Princess Mononoke Rebirth
by The One and Only Featherhead
Summary: A new era...new heroes meet new villians, light meets dark, the power of good verses evil...Ashitaka and San embark on a new voyage once again as they find that Irontown has been raided by Lord Asano and his dispatches. Whilst over there, Ashitaka encount
1. A Surprising Reunion

**A Surprising Reunion **

A warm breeze swift pass the jade grass, along down to the russet, timber, stilt walls of Irontown. Whom also stands on a scaffolds, is a young man; about 18 years old, dark chocolate hair, tanned, soft skin, quite daring eyes, soft lips – not that I know of but they just looks like it that's all – muscle-bound arms, toned body temple, and strong sprinting legs –I'm not even gonna describe what's between his torso and legs-. He's the perfect stranger if you want to know. Sweat drips down from his fore head to his cobalt kimono; he's taking up his weekly night shift, just watching for any…dangers.

Suddenly a quick swift of noise caught his attention, a sudden creak swept passed the gates, his squinted his eyes only just, trying to focus on where that sound it coming from. He turned his head to the side, and noticed a gentle movement of tacky wall decorations, as they silently made a series of notes. The strange man then tilted his body to look more closely at the suspicious area that… something is here.

He jumped down from his post, rising up again to face this mysterious thing, he then closed his eyes and only concentrated on his hearing, listening to the breeze circling around him, listening to it slowly in his mind, just listening…listening…listening…listening…listening…

…CRACK! A broken pot has occurred into his head, quickly unfastened his eyes and walked his way over to the pots; he knows that this 'thing' is over there. His heart pumped faster. Sweat started to come on faster. And he still draws nearly to he pots. Looking into a dark space where it's left empty. Dipping his head into pitch black, hearing the noise more closer then ever, then-

"You!" Strutted out by his side was a stranger that made the young man jumped out from his skin, and reflexes to the ground on his back. "Why do you live in this human dump?"

The stranger was a young girl, at about 17 years old, maybe coming onto 18. She has three distinctive burgundy triangles on her face, one on her forehead, covered in her brown fringe, and two larger ones on her cheeks, just below her grey eyes, pale peachy skin, sleek, strong body, quite long arms, with two athletic legs that are supporting her whole body. She was also wearing a violet dress with a white, dirty cover over it, and a headband keeping together her short, frizzy brown hair.

"San!"

"Well who else can I be? Yakul?"

"Of course not." The young man smiled. He smiled as if he knew the girl for a long time.

"It's been a while…Ashitaka." San smiled back.

"It has…but how did who get in here."

"Ashitaka…I have been trying to kill Eboshi most of my life, I have gotten into this fortress many times, you even witnessed me getting inside, foiling my attempt to kill that damn woman, So please…don't ask that question again."

"…ok" he hesitated within that pause. "But you're probably the last person anyone wants to see who lives in this town…'' he then rose up. "…and I don't want to see you get hurt so I want you to get back home." San then clutched onto his sleeve, and slung Ashitaka back to a wall, and trapped him within her arms like a barrier, and stared right to his face.

"I haven't seen you for months, why didn't you come. You know… I always thought you would change your mind and come live with me… but I guess… your sticking with your plans, aren't you?" She then loosens her grip on his kimono. But Ashitaka then took hold of her hands.

"I don't mind living here… but I could never manage to…"

"What…? Never manage to what Ashitaka?" She then looked straight into his eyes, and drew herself closer to his body, quietly hyperventilating. As a reaction, Ashitaka leaned his head gradually to San. Their eyelids lowered slightly. Their lips were almost touching. But then they both twitched away.

"I-I'm sorry!" San apologized

"It's alright San." Ashitaka sighed and took a silent moment together against a wall.

"Come with me."

"What?"

"Please…come with me….sleep with me…"

"Uh! P-P-Pardon?!"

"Not, what I mean is, just for the night, stay together as…friends…best friends."

"…San…"

"Because…I've…never really had a best friend…not back when I was-

A siren then mild screeched in her head, she gripped her head with both of her hands and bounced of Ashitaka. "Argh!"

"San! Are you ok?" Ashitaka tried to help her out. San couldn't help but trying to breathe.

"Nnnnnggh! I'm okay; it's just a small headache. Nothing to fuss over."

She then rose back up to her feet and brushed down the dust that sprinkled on her dress.

Ashitaka's face then turns to relief as the mild ache suddenly washed away.

"Maybe, I should stay with you. For the time being." San struggled to twitch a smile, since she hasn't smiled or felt happy when she left Ashitaka to remain inside the forest; the very heart of the Forest Spirit. For the slightest moment, she thought about giving him the kiss they both desired, the one time where she can show her emotions towards Ashitaka. Yet the thought of her kissing a human disgusts her, of course, she hates humans, every time she sees one she wants to pull out her daggers and open up their arteries. But not him, not Ashitaka, and do you want to know why? Because he can see right through her. Right through that stubborn skin she holds together, right down to that naked core within her soul, right there she suffers from a fragility that renders a weakness. And that weakness reduces her to nothing more than a lonely girl who was spirited away by Wolf Gods, like a lightning bolt stroked down from the heavens and split her heart into two. That's why she didn't reject Ashitaka; it's almost as if he was her lightning bolt that cracked her into a split personality, as if she's the lethal Lucy and delicate Nyuu – I'm referring to the anime _Elfen Lied_ - Yet none the less, she hates and loves Ashitaka.

"Thank you." She whispered gently.

"Its alright." replied Ashitaka. So San then silently scuttled across the town and climbed above the splinters of the great barriers that implore her away.

"Come on!" she whined.

"Don't worry, I'm coming." Ashitaka chuckled as he looked back at the piles of broken pots and thought "there's nothing there." Until…he took another glimpse through the black hole, and saw something…blue, with a white outlining. He assumed at first that it was just decorations for them. But when the moon flickered its lunar rays over Irontown, he saw the decoration blink. Ashitaka stuttered for a moment.

"What are you looking at?" San griped with impatience. Ashitaka took another look at the pots. But it was gone.

"…Nothing." He said quietly. And drove himself towards San and capered out of the village.

"I will return of Yakul."

"We will, don't worry." She cooed as the peacefully walked up to the mountains.


	2. New Sadistic Characters

**New Sadistic Characters **

"Hey, hey, hey!" An adolescent boy sniggered, baggy, worn-out, dirt smeared across his face, a tramp. He jogged to his "gang" to point at someone who looked miserable; a woman, appeared to be in her late twenties, tired, hungry, weak. Wearing even worse strips o cloth than the tramp was. He and the group struggled to hold their laughs.

"Baby on board!"

"Oooh! Looks like we got ourselves a meal man!" one of the other men sneered at the poor girl. She walked past without hesitation, looking nowhere but forward, focusing on her pathway home. As she passed, two other men slowly got up from their backsides the followed the lady's footsteps. She was near small village where Irontown keeps their spare goods. The night was only at dusk, yet it seemed already dangerous to be walking around in the dark. Then the two men stopped when she walked down a tiny hill. Still not looking back, she carried on in her tracks. A third man strutted to the other two. Glaring at them in delight then put on his black mask to veil his identity, he laughed maliciously.

The woman decreased her walking and gave herself a quick break, laying her back against the bark of a tree. Thinking she was in harmony with the forest, a creak crawled inside her ear, she quickly turned her head to the left, staring at the hill she just crossed. Nothing…at first, until shadows started to appear, taking form of demons. She heart raced against her blood. Sweat rolled down from her neck. Twitching her fingers. Eyes turning blood-shot. Her heart pulsed droved her panic faster, then the demons took the shape of silhouette humans.

"What's for dinner boys?" one form guffawed, as the others laughed with glee. The frightened girl started to take steps back, then few leaps. Clutching onto her rags tight. Breathing quicker than usual, her brain was buzzing with trepidation. Suddenly one of the boys stumped her behind her back.

"Hey pretty lady!" the boy giggled, along with the others snarling around her. They all reached in closer. One grabbed her around the waist, digging into her skin.

"Let go of me!"

The girl shrieked, one man thumped her within her stomach, making her squeeze inside to try to numb the pain, and then he clouted her on her left cheek, leaving a crimson heated mark on her pale skin. The other who was holding her let her fall to the ground, one of the three knelt behind her, clutching his hand around her wrists. The last pinned her on her pelvis, stroking just below her breasts.

"Scream if it hurts _baita_."

Note: _baita _means "whore" in Japanese-

But the girl didn't scream, nor did she make a noise. She just laid her head low, covering her eyes. The man on top of her leaned forward to ask the others "what to do with her". Then, something slit out of her mouth, between he lips, was some sort of broken piece, maybe a piece of glass, but it didn't look delicate enough to be a piece of glass, more like steel, or from a sword even. So then, she raised her head, gripping the small blade with her teeth, she flung her head to her right and deeply carved a cut within the man's neck. He didn't wince; he couldn't because of the hole in his artery. He got up quickly, trying to block where blood was spewing out, he started to wobbled, gasping for air, and his final movement, was falling flat down to the ground, with the crimson juice, flowing out from his veins.

"W-What the fuck?!" one boy stuttered, as he then looked down at the girl. She kicked him on the forehead making him bounce to the floor, and with the strength of her arms she lifted the other and flung him to a tree. Rising to her feet, she tore up her rags, revealing a scarlet kimono, ebony tights and arm warmers up to her shoulders, stilted sandals, gray ribbons wrapped around her wrists and ankles. Along with gorgeous auburn locks, thin lips, and eyes of jade, looking at bout the age between 18-19.

The remaining two mounted onto their jelly legs, and clenched theirs firsts clumsily. Now their hearts were pulsing madly. The carrot head girl was giving them a severe, sincere look at them. One boy behind her was trying to look serious at her, yet he was too damn afraid of a girl who just killed another.

"You bitch!" trying to pounce on her, but she was too quick and she thrust her foot against his stomach. Then twisted back with a series of blows against the other boy's face, knocking him out. The second one grabbed her around the waist again. But he didn't held her for long; as she raised out a scimitar and thrashed it into his intestines, gutting him like a pig, she broke off his grip and elbowed him in the nose, letting his remains fall to pieces. Then her last target was in sight. He tried to runaway but slipped into a pool of blood from the dead man with a slit in his neck. The girl didn't have to hurry, so she just walked slowly towards him, while the last boy just kept on tripping. He looked up at her with bruised lips and pleading eyes.

"…Scream if this hurt _baita_." Said the girl quietly.

"No…please!" Without mercy, she took a blow of her scimitar and plunged it into his heart, tearing up a hole within his kimono. Blood started to stain on her hands, ripping out the blade from his ribcage, and looking up to the mountains within the azure night sky.

"I will find you." Focusing on the forest beyond her reach, and inside there, stares back a man; a man with blue eyes, navy feather hair, with a small pony tail, and wearing a black mask just below his eyes.

"You're very intelligent to see people far away, aren't you?" spoke a black figure behind him, wearing a white mask, with a purple kimono, along with a stitching which says _sosaku suru _in calligraphy.

_Sosaku suru _means "bounty hunter"-

"You can say that." Replied the hidden man.

"Do you have a thing for her? You must have, since you can't stop letting her catch up with you."

"She's out to kill me…like you." The bounty hunter then let out his blade and held it to the side of the other's throat.

"Well, it's a shame she's not going to get the jackpot money."

"She's not after the money."

"Whatever, the main thing is you're coming with me! You will come with me to Irontown and we will take things on from ther-

He then felt a sting in his kidney; he looked down, and saw a dagger stuck in his side. His eyelids drooped down, losing grip from his blade and fell to the ground.

"I…" the hidden man turned to the dead bounty hunter. "…

…can get there myself."


	3. Familiar Face

**Familiar Face **

The forest shows of her beauty mostly in the night, where green merges in with blue to created a teal atmosphere. Ashitaka was sleeping peacefully next to San, not realizing that his hand is on her hip. But San was clutching onto her wolf coat as what she seems to be having was a bad dream. Sweat dripped from her neck down her chest as she endures her reverie.

…_usotsuki_...

_usotsuki _means "liar"-

Contained inside her was a dark lair, sort of a bluish gray, and in the centre standing was a little girl, aged 10. She was wearing a dirty white shirt, a violet skirt, with a wolf coat over her shirt, along with chokers of teeth. Her hair was greenish brown, short, with a fringe that covers one of her eyes.

…_usotsuki_... that was what the girl was whispering…_usotsuki_...

The dream woke her up; her eyes shot straight open to the ceiling of the cave, she felt the sweat flopping from her back and wiped it away. She then looked down at Ashitaka, while he peacefully slumbers.

She couldn't stop staring at him, he just looks so beautiful lying by her side, and sometimes she wishes that something more can happen between each other. But she still doesn't feel ready yet. San knows that however beautiful he was he's still a human, a pest, an enemy to her. So she turned away from him, blocking out all the negative thoughts that occurred to her, and then stared out to the sky. It was already morning; the sun merges his colors with the azure sky to lavender setting. Oh how poise, she must have thought. Then the vision drifted her legs towards it; to the edge of the cliff where you can see anything, and everything.

"It's a beautiful forest." A voice spoke behind her ear.

"It really is." San replied.

"I need to get back to Irontown to retrieve Yakul." She sighed for a moment.

"I understand." She replied. He then clutched his arms around her and gave her a little squeeze. San didn't saw that coming, so in a wrong reaction, she winced and pressed her thighs together.

"Sorry!" he let go of her in an instance as he thought he'd done something wrong. "I shouldn't have done something like that. I'm sorry." He quickly walked away from her and made his way to Irontown.

"_Baka_ San! Why did I have to react like that?" she whispered to herself.

"…_Because you hate humans…" _a child voice said. San quickly turned her head. But there was no-one there. Could she be hallucinating? No. It's just a stupid thought.

…_Baka San… _

_Baka _means… well there a lot of things you can use for _Baka_, like "fool", "thick", but mostly "idiot", it's mostly used for insulting someone, you can even use it for "dumbass"!-

"_Baka _Ashitaka! Why did I have to hold her like that? She hates humans, why can't I get that into my head?" He insulted himself as he made his way to Irontown, walking through the rustling grass as the breeze brushed his cheeks.

He already reached the river, and noticed the pathway leaving to Irontown.

"Something's…not right." He thought to himself. Ashitaka then reached the gates. "Is anyone there? It's me, Ashitaka." A woman wearing a turban round her head, she spotted Ashitaka, and took a small gasp.

"Toki, come and look, who is that?"

"It's ok; he's a well-known friend, Ashitaka!"

"Toki! I need to speak to Lady Eboshi."

"I'm afraid she's busy at the moment."

"It's important, please?" Toki sighed with frustration as she came to a decision.

"Ok, but it will have to be quick." The gates started to rise as Ashitaka entered. Toki was standing in front of him with despair. But there was a little girl, about 8 years old, clutching onto her kimono. She had pitch black hair up to her shoulders, wearing a light pink kimono, with wooden sandals on her feet. She hid behind as she was afraid of the stranger in front of her. Ashitaka blinked down at her.

"Milady is in her office."

"Right." He replied, and walked up to Eboshi office –not the type of office with a computer, chairs or a desk, well, maybe a desk.-

He lifted the curtains covering the doorway and can see, she is in frustration, her hair was misplaced, and her face was patched with dirt. She looked at him sternly, well actually with anger.

"_Baka omae!_"

-"You idiot!"-

"Why did you leave your post last night?"

"Excuse me?" Ashitaka was in distraught.

"When you left Irontown, five women went missing in the middle of the night, and then found raped and murdered on the outskirts." He then thought back to the night San came, when she pleaded her to come back to the forest with her.

"I'm sorry, she-

"…she…you mean Princess Mononoke?" Ashitaka stuttered for a second as he dips himself in guilt.

"…Yes."

"I don't believe this. You left Irontown for that crazy little wolf girl?!" His emotions turned sincere and sharp.

"I am happy to live here and with the wolf girl. I am neutral to both sides of this rivalry. Or have you forgotten that?"

"I don't need to hear anymore of this. You no longer welcome here, take the rest of your belongings and leave! At once!"

Then out of the blue, came a roar of explosion from the forge. The sudden shockwave sent them to the ground, the roof above their heads rumbled, as it rained down with splinters falling into their hair.

"What was that?!" Ashitaka stuttered, and then a guard with a light orange kimono and a white mask came running in.

"We're under attack! Samurai's are coming this way!"

"Could it be Lord Asano again?" questioned Eboshi.

"We're not certain, but they are coming heavy handed!" all three of them climbed up onto a balcony, where they can see any incoming dangers, well, what they can see; is a thick, bleak fog clouding over the mountains, and below was an army of robots in armor. Shooting spears of arrows over their heads, and piercing the hearts of men and women dying on the outskirts.

"It is Lord Asano!"

"My God! My people are dying outside! Bring them in at once!" ordered Eboshi.

"Yes Milady!" quivered to guard.

"And you! Make yourself useful. Lets see if you can redeem yourself." She scolded at Ashitaka as he tried to make himself worth while. He ran down to the gates to help out with raising them. He already saw men struggling to raise it as quickly as possible.

"It's no use! We'll never get it up in time!" one man said in despair.

"Not without my help!"

"Ashitaka!"

"That's right! I've come to help!" He ran to a post and tried to pull it down with all of his might, along with others helping him out as well. The gates finally rose but only ever slowly. The natives of Irontown panic in fear as they crawled under it.

"Come on! Hurry! We haven't got much time left!" People came swarming in with horror; trying to get in as quickly as possible.

"We did it!" Ashitaka cheered.

"Yes! Now all we need to do is close the-

It was too late for the men to finish their sentences, as they all got shot down one by one.

"NO!" he cried. When the gate's mechanism's turned reverse, he tried to pull it back down but he wasn't strong enough. Then the rope snapped that was supporting the gate itself, it crashed to the floor, now the hole Irontown it opens to anyone.

"Oh no! The samurais are coming in!" He then stared at the frightened citizens. "Get everyone inside! Now! Hurry!" Ashitaka drove the women into their homes. The samurais came marching in, as most of the herd came marching to Eboshi's office.

"They're after Eboshi!" He tried to pass them passively, running through huts trying to reach her before they did.

Eboshi unsheathed her sword as she prepared for her fate.

"Toki, take care of the girl."

"But I can't leave you on your own!"

"The girl's life is most important now, she is your future." Toki stared at Eboshi for a moment, and then she gave her a tragic look.

"Good luck, Milady." She replied tearfully, as she ran through an emergency exit with the child clutched to her breasts. Eboshi stood in her warrior position, just waiting for her momentum to grasp her from this hellhole. Then…the samurais came…

Gunshots were fired. Ashitaka gasped in silence, as he feared the worst, he ran from the heaving stair, panting breathlessly, until he finally reached her office. Brushed passed the curtains, the only left to see was Eboshi blood-splattered with samurais looking at him.

His eyes turned point, his heart rate collapsed; he hyperventilated with shock, until he gritted his teeth, clenched hold of his sword, and as they say: "no more Mr. nice guy." Ashitaka suddenly unleashed his anger, and plunged himself toward them.

"_Kusoyara!_"

-"Bastards!"-

His sword clashed into them, through their weak armor into their flesh. Others tried to grab hold of him, but he was too wild to control, instead their arms have been detached from their bodies and fell to the ground. Screaming in rage, he let out their streams of blood.

"You wild dog!" one of the remaining managed to punch him in the stomach, making Ashitaka paused his killing spree, gasping air. The samurai then thrust him in the face that made him collapse. He then pinned him down with a small blade piercing his cloth.

"Now let's see if you look better headless." Then his head busted out a hole through the forehead with a thick dagger sticking out. The blade was then pulled back in, leaving the dead samurai to deteriorate. Looking up; he saw San.

"San! W-What-

"No time for questions! Come on!" She pulled him up from his hand and ran through the emergency exit.

"I'm glad you came here!"

"I saw the smoke around here; I thought you were in trouble."

Then another roar of sound came crashing down. This time with impact. Shockwaves blew up like a bomb through out Irontown. Then as they were running, the shockwave couldn't be withstood by the floor so it caused it to rupture holes, dropping San and Ashitaka.

"Watch out!" Ashitaka clutching onto her head protecting her, but they both quickly departed from the waves. Crashing them down to sub zero.

_CRASH!! _

…Then silence.

Few hours later, Ashitaka was lying on the floor like he was half dead, dirt smeared across his cheek. He finally woke up, with a mild back ache. He rose from his stomach, looking around to see where he was; some sort of underground base. But in front of him; was the strange boy with blue eyes he saw last night.

"So…you weren't a hallucination I saw that night."

"You saw me then?"

"Yes. I did." They both looked at each other, until the other boy released his mask, revealing tiger marks on his face, midnight blue, strong streaks. Ashitaka realized who he was.

"I've heard about you! You're the fugitive everyone's trying to catch." He scoffed at him.

"Is that what they call me nowadays? Well I have a name."

"Then what is that name?"

"Like I'm gonna tell you?" Ashitaka stepped back. "That's right, stay away from me and you won't get hurt." He walked away from him, but Ashitaka then saw a mark on his neck, not like the streaks, more similar to…the scar on his hand.

"Hey! How did you get that scar?" The man stopped in his tracks…

"That's none of your business." Ashitaka exhale briefly. "Now leave me." And he just carried on walking.

"But-

…


	4. Ashitaka Strikes

**Ashitaka Strikes **

-Okay, before I carry on with the story, according to the title of this chapter, NO, it's not the Sasuke from Naruto, THIS IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT CHARACTER, just to let you know.-

The man took a step back, lifting his left leg, and swooped it round Ashitaka's cheek, drops of blood floated in the air as he dropped to the ground, supporting his body with his arms. The crimson juice slowly dripped from the side of his mouth to the floor.

"For once I was gonna let you slide…but you just wouldn't listen, you're just a repressed nuisance." Ashitaka lowered his head to the ground as the boy carried on walking.

"…repressed huh?" he then turned his eye towards him. Ashitaka rose to his feet again.

"Well your right…I'm repressed by humans LIKE YOU!!" He raised his fist and collided it to the man's cheek, staggering from the blow; he wobbled for moments, until gaining control of himself again. He wiped away the blood on his lips, looking angry at Ashitaka.

He tried to throw back a punch but was blocked by Ashitaka's arm.

"Why is it that you accuse me of being repressed? Is it that you seem to know my past well enough that I stifle my anger within me?" Ashitaka questioned coldly.

"I don't know. You seem to be the type that's use to have it all, you must be a prince." Ashitaka then shoved his arm into the man's face, trying to block his sight, and release a powerful kick on his side. But it was too soon. Instead he was thrown to the wall quite roughly that made his back crack. He crippled himself a bit.

"I bet you were spoilt once, and then you were too ignorant to listen so you ran away. You tried the hard life, but couldn't bear it, so you shut your mouth to the world, not complaining once." Ashitaka anger grew and lifted his bodyweight and thrust it to the other man, clutching his arms around his waist and sprung him to the floor.

"Wrong deduction!" he barked. But the man just kicked him in the stomach and made Ashitaka wince as he pinned him down.

"Well that's what it seems to me. But I wonder what your girlfriend thinks." Ashitaka lay confused for a moment.

"Girlfriend...San!"

San was found in another underground zone, where the people use to dig out the sand for forging iron, now they were nothing but empty shells with digging marks to remind us of what humans have done to them.

Her trembling body was covered with splinters and bits of broken wood. Her face flushed with grey dust, and limbs spread out far and wide. She awoke slowly; her eyes were blinking quite quickly and then shot open. She hastily but carefully rose herself from the ashes of rocks and wood. She flinched from the mild pain on her shoulder that was bleeding slightly. San then took a quick swipe look around the lair that was surrounding her.

…_I finally meet you again…_

San spun her head round to somewhat…a girl was standing in front of her. Short, greenish brown hair, white dirty long sleeved shirt, dark violet skirt, with wolf skin covering her back. Along with her fringe veiling her face from her.

…_What have you become…? … You used to be a strong wolf… _

"Who are you? And what are you talking about?" San questioned ferociously.

…_You've forgotten haven't you? …You forgotten your childhood, your past, even me…But would you like to remember? … Would you like to remember your name? …The name that recalls you of who and what you are…? _

San noticed her dagger on the floor and quickly turned away from the little girl.

"Oh yeah? If you know who I am? Name this!" she picked up her blade and aimed it at her. But she was already gone, flashed away right before her eyes. "Where is she?" San questioned herself, and then she remembered who to search for.

"…Ashitaka!"

Returning to the other scene, Ashitaka was being gripped with the man's smothering hands, choking onto his breath whilst the other was still pinning him down on his pelvis.

"Why are you even trying? You don't seem strong enough to me." He sneered callously." Ashitaka squinted his eyes and grasped hold of his wrists, squeezing them as tightly as he could. Then the man unwillingly let go of his throat when the blood was being blocked from reaching his hands. Ashitaka lifted his back from the ground and looked at him daringly into his eyes.

"You don't scare me! I am strong enough to fight you!" he thrust him back to a wall but the man's strength was leveling with his. They both tried to kick each other in the stomach but resulted in them being sent back down to the ground. They both grunted in pain as they both ascended back onto their feet.

"It seems to me that you don't like being knocked down from your alpha male post. You don't like being questioned, annoyed, or second best. And from this conflict I can see why people are hunting you down; you're just a murdering hound who kills people to feed his rage." Ashitaka stood in his battle position with his fists ready to punch and his legs ready to support him all the way. With the other man had his arms close together and his legs stuck firmly to the ground, and as he looked at Ashitaka he gritted his teeth a little.

"Is that what you think of me; a murderous hound? Well you know nothing about me or what I do!"

"Then let's end this fight and cooperate together to get out of here! Right now, many people are killed or taken hostage! We need to help them get through this massacre, and maybe…you can show people that you're not who seem to them."

"Why…? Why should I…? Humans like you have always treated me badly, and they never care about anyone but themselves."

"You sound like someone I know."

"Then shut up and get this through your thick skull: You think you can help me but you can't, you think you're the answer to every problem that this world comes up with. But I don't, this world and I don't need or want a hero. We are better off without you, so go back from where you came from YOU DAMN FREAK!"

Ashitaka turned pale and silent for moments, his eyes grew small and the statement the man expressed made him sick.

"…Maybe the world doesn't need me…but the world would be far better off one less of a murderer." The man scoffed at him.

"Fine then…ready?"

"…Bring it on."


	5. Conflicts of Blood

**Conflicts of Blood **

They then sprinted to each other as they start their own private war between themselves, both talented and powerful, but neither managed to knock the other down, Ashitaka was able to block but not to hit, while the opposing man struggles to get though to him.

Ashitaka didn't know what he was doing. "What am I doing?" he thought to himself. "This is wrong." His guilt started to build up inside him, already feeling remorse if he accidentally killed the man, what a conscience stained on his mind. He swore he would never come into conflict with another god, demon or human. But this was the exception; someone who wrongly accused him of being "repressed" and a "spoilt prince". Then that led him back to the time he was a prince, it was a happy time, yes. A village to protect, friends to consort with, and a sister to love. But then…another memory occurred, something bleak, but horrific; he remembered being young, about 13 years old, he witnessed something…something that he wasn't meant to see…

…_Yamu tomeru! _

Stop it already!-

Then his memories had faltered as he felt a hand stretched onto his face. The other man pushed his energy through his hand, forcing Ashitaka to lose control of himself and swing against the wall. He then winced a little in pain.

"Have a little moment to yourself, are you?" smirked the man. Ashitaka got back to himself, and then man just looked annoyed at him. "Why do you even bother? Why don't you just back down"

"I'm not the type who gives up easily." Ashitaka swung his fist into the other's face, which forced him to the ground. He turned his face to Ashitaka as tears of blood trickled down from his brow.

"You shouldn't have done that!"

"What was I suppose to do?! Let you win?!" Ashitaka questioned him. But the man's speed was too fast for him. In an instance, he grabbed hold of Ashitaka's luscious brown hair, pulled him down, and trapped his throat between his thighs.

"What can you do now?! Huh?! Bet you want to give in now, do ya?!" He clutched his fists together to put more pressure on Ashitaka's throat. But Ashitaka was too strong for his tactics and easily broke off the circulation, trying to reach for the other's throat, but got flipped and broke into a wall. Dust covered the air as the striped man rose back up again, and looked into the hole in the wall.

"Looks like I won. I'm stronger than you'll ever be." He scoffed, and walked on like nothing happened. But a twitch occurred into his mind, he was afraid to turn around look that was there, but he knew who was behind him.

"…Wrong thought." Ashitaka quietly spoke. Then he wrapped his arms around his waist and seized it tightly.

"What are you doing?! Stop right now!" But Ashitaka had turned resistant to his commands, instead he lifted him up above the ground, supporting him with his abdomen, and slammed his head firmly to the earth. Blood immediately came spitting out from him.

"Hurts now, don't it?" Ashitaka coldly spoke to him. But he immediately jumped back as the other man rose back up.

"If you…think you can take me down… you're wrong!" He strained.

"Well…we'll see." Ashitaka then was ready to prepare another punch at him. But suddenly a girl aged 10, wearing a pink kimono with wooden sandals started to run towards him.

"Please stop it!"

"Get back!" his concentration faltered as the little girl came running in, and then he ran towards her to protect her from this monster. Then the striped man smirked at himself. "Maybe I can take him down, with my arms, without making a mess…" He thought to himself. Then smiled as he looked into Ashitaka's eye.  
Then, out of the blue, holes started bursting out of Ashitaka's sides, and when he reached out his right hand, another hole busted through it. Blood was coming out now, swarms of it.

"NO! That's not meant to happen!" The man shouted out. Ashitaka's eyes grew small, his face painted pale again; this time snowy white. The young girl's face was in distraught as well. Ashitaka slowly collapsed to the ground, with blood spitting out everywhere. The young girl screamed by the sight she saw. The man didn't want the girl to get involved, but already the girl was flung safely into another abandoned room, blocking the view to not let her see what he was going to do with Ashitaka.

"Dammit! It's hurts so badly!" Ashitaka whispered to himself, and then he looked up to the strange man staring down at him.

"Who…who and what are you?!" then the pain in his left side endured more as Ashitaka couldn't be able to speak.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Don't worry; your end will be quick, like all the other bastards who tried to fuck with me."

Suddenly… A cloud of smoke burst out from a hole, the fog blurred his vision as he tried to find out what the fuck was that. Moments have past as it was starting to get boring. A girl came firing out, redhead, black tights, green eyes; it was the girl from earlier, pointing a hand gun in front of him.

"Your times up Sasuke!" She claimed at him.

"Shit! It's her again!" The man spat in distraught, she tried to pull the trigger in front of him but he was too quick like before. But she pulled out another gun and tried to fire at him, the man grabbed her wrist but she was too fast as well. She kept pulling her hands away from him and tried to fire every last bullet at him, but she ran out. The man suddenly let out this unique, invisible power he had within him.

"His vector snakes!" the redhead gasped, she dropped her guns and released her small daggers. One vector tried to hit her, but he missed and she threw a dagger to his forehead, making him fling his head back and rasp in pain. He fell to the floor.

Then another girl came in with red wolf marks on her face; it was San. She saw Ashitaka and gasped.

"Ashitaka! Oh no!" she cried out, as she ran to him and held him in her arms. The redhead didn't notice her as she was more focusing on the man. He seemed dead at first, not making a sound. Then he exhaled out and looked straight at her.

"I'm not dead yet." He took out the dagger from his head, and threw it to her. He again, missed, but seemed to distract her. Making sure the dagger didn't hit her, she threw herself to one-side and cocked out –no, not that type of "cocked" out- yet another gun. But the man was already gone; he ran away through the hole and into the forest from up above, she looked outside as she watched him go by with disappointment.

"Dammit! Don't you dare think I've given up on you!" She shouted at him as he heard what she said.

"Next time…hunter."

"Ashitaka? Ashitaka wake up! Wake up right now!" San cried out. The young redhead then looked at San.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's not waking up!" she then looked at his wounds.

"He's been hit with his vector snakes. He's lucky that it didn't rupture his organs, but he won't survive if he doesn't get help now."

"I don't need any help from you or any other human! I hate humans!" the redhead slowly stepped back and turned away from her.

"Ironic…"

"What is?"

"You say you hate humans, yet you don't want the one in your arms to die." San gulped as she knew she was right; she didn't want Ashitaka to die.

"At least let me help you two to get out of here! Or if you're too ignorant and stubborn to listen then you won't get out of here alive! The passage ways are all blocked, so if you got any other ideas please let me in on them." The redhead spoke ferociously. San stuttered for a moment deciding what to do… what to do… what to do…

"…I don't know human bodies well…please help me." San hesitantly spoke with a hating look on her face. The redhead then took hold of Ashitaka's unconscious body and used her body weight to carry him.

"What is your name, human?" San questioned her.

"…Motoko." The redhead answered back. She then carried him out from the hole. "Follow me!" San was bout to but heard a faint cry in a corner. She went up to it and dug out the scraps of rocks and wood covering the view. She had her dagger with her and used it to help her. San reached to the other side and found the little girl covered in dirt. The girl looked up at her as if she was going to cry. San didn't what to do, with her dagger in her hand; she was tempted to kill her. But can she be so sick to kill an innocent child. What is she going to do…?


	6. A Glimpse of Care

**A Glimpse of Care **

Motoko held Ashitaka's bodyweight upon her shoulders as she leaped out through a god-given passage way out of Irontown. She managed to get out, seeing the horrific view of the destruction of it, again. Motoko looked stern at the sight.

"I don't know what's going to happen to you. Please forgive if you do not make it." Motoko whispered silently. "Where's Princess Mononoke?" She then wondered. Then another sudden boom came out from the ruins of Irontown. The shockwaves sent her and the unconscious Ashitaka to the ground. "Shit! I can't stay here any longer." So she then release out from her pockets, a bottle of green liquid, and broke the lid, letting the fluid to flow out of the bottle. She also stabbed one of her daggers into the ground, with the calligraphy _Sosaku suru _written on it. She then ran out from the area.

Ironically after a few minutes, San came running out from the site. Yet she was seemed heavy handed at the minute, with something clutching on her behind her back and covered in her white fur coat. San stumbled out in the open and searched.

"Where is she? Where did that human girl take Ashitaka?!" she panicked. But then she looked up at Motoko, where she had a firm look on her face.

"Oh! I thought I would have to go back in there and save you (!)" She spoke sarcastically.

"Just shut up and run." San snarled at her, and then there was movement behind her back.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Let's just go!" Motoko looked at her with suspicion, and then ran on with San following her. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe."

It was dusk already; there was a beautiful view of the forest out ahead. Yet within it, in an open patch, there was a small bungalow house, with wooden flats, and patched windows. The rooms were alit. But San stood outside of it firmly, with her feet stuck onto the ground. Her face was irate and stubborn, with her arms crossed and her eyes squint. Then a faint whisper came behind her.

"Aren't we gonna go in?"

"Shh! No we are not!" San replied stubbornly. The slide opened in front of her. Motoko stood in front of San.

"You're not seriously that obstinate enough that you will not step inside a _manmade_ house."

"I don't care! Just give me Ashitaka and let us leave!"

"And where will you go? _Your home_? It'll be too dangerous to get back there, and with your lover's condition, he won't make it on the journey."

"He's NOT my lover!"

"If you say so, but I want you to stay here."

"What's in it for me?"

"If you tell me what the hell's behind your back."

"I told you; nothing!"

"Yeah right!" Motoko grabbed hold of her shoulder and pulled into her.

"You bitch! Let go of me!" San growled as she punched Motoko in the chest that made them both fall back. Then a small young girl flew out from her coat; it was the little girl Toki tried to save in the invasion.

"Nothing you said, San?" Motoko scoffed at her.

"I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to cause trouble." The little girl trembled.

"It's not your fault; it's _hers_!" San scolded.

"Don't give me that look! You inhuman outcast!" San shot back up and clenched her fists.

"Well it's better to be inhuman than be a monster who destroys my forest!" They both started to argue in front of each other and growled like a pack of angry wolves.

"Please stop it!" the little cried out. The quarreling two then set their attention on her. "Please…I don't want anymore hurt." She wept. Then a faint grunt came from inside the house.

"Ashitaka?" San pushed Motoko aside and ran into the house.

"Oh, _now _she goes in!" Motoko scoffed behind her, as she ran in too, along with the little girl as well. San found Ashitaka wrapped in thick blankets with a warm, wet towel over his forehead. He was sweating badly and breathing heavily.

"Ashitaka? It's me; San!" she cried to him as she knelt down and looked over him.

"S-S-S-Sa…" he hyperventilated quietly.

"Yes, it's me!" Motoko ran in to check on him.

"At least he's got his consciousness back, but he still needs help." Motoko quickened. Then the little girl knelt down beside San.

"Who is that man?" she asked.

"He's…." San couldn't finish her sentence in stubbornness as she didn't want to call him her 'friend'. Ashitaka then opened his eyes slowly. He looked at the ceiling with San and the others looking over him.

"How are you feeling?" Motoko questioned him.

"Are you ok?" the girl raised.

"Ashitaka; do you remember me?" San asked over. Ashitaka answered neither of those questions; he just raised his top half up and looked in front of him; or else known as the slide door. The three looked curious at his face. He looked dark, with part of his fringe covering one of his eyes. He stared at that moment. Still at that moment, he got up, wobbled at first, he walked over to the slide.

"Where are you going?" San questioned him. He opened the slide with his face looking down.

"_Kimatchua ryui_."

"I feel sick"-

Ashitaka panted as he walked out of the room, Motoko walked up and looked behind him.

"Maybe he needs to pee." She wondered. But San didn't think so. So she followed his every move behind him.

"You don't need to pee, do you?" she asked him.

"I'm going to find that stupid man and kill him." Ashitaka said coldly, but collapsed to the floor with San picking him up, clutching her arms around his waist.

"You're the stupid one here! There's no need for killing right now; all you to do is sleep." Ashitaka lifted his head up to San and started to blush.

"San!" he gasped at her.

"Ok, you're not yourself; I can see that." She then lifted her hand and saw blood on it. "Blood?" she thought to herself, and then she felt wetness on her legs. And when she looked down, she saw the blood spewing out from Ashitaka.

"Oh shit! Help!" San cried out, Motoko then came running in to find Ashitaka bleeding again.

"We need to sort out this problem right now!" They both took Ashitaka back into the first room where the little girl was sitting in a corner. They both lay him down on the mattress and Motoko ripped open his red-stained kimono, staring at the massive hole through his body. The little girl squirmed a little and immediately looked away.

"We need to stitch the wound right away." Motoko startled, as took out a small box with needles and small threads inside. Ashitaka stared at the needles, and began to tremble.

"San, what is she going to do to me?!" He panicked.

"She's just gonna clean up your wounds; you're going to be ok." San cooed at him.

"Damn! There must be some pieces of wood stuck in there. I'm gonna have to take that out, otherwise it will infest in him." She looked at San.

"Right." San assured her.

"This will hurt, so try to make Ashitaka distract from the pain." San thought to herself; what will distract Ashitaka from the pain? Then she decided to take his unhurt hand, and grasp it tightly.

"Ashitaka; I want to clench onto me a tightly as possible."

"But I'll hurt you."

"Look, just do it!" Motoko pulled up her sleeves and cleansed her hands.  
"I'm going in now." Motoko said.

"Ok." San reassured. Motoko then pressed her hand into the wound. Ashitaka winced in pain squinted his eyes. He then started to clench San's hand, then San crippled in ache; Ashitaka's grasp was tight. San took out little pain noises from her throat.  
"I'm sorry." Ashitaka whispered.

"Don't be sorry." She supported him. But suddenly, she accidentally slipped and then placed his hand onto her left breast. Ashitaka then gave out a pink haze within his cheeks.

"I-I-I…"

"Don't…say it!" San growled. "All I want is for you to be ok." Motoko gave a quick glance at her.

"Strange, she hates humans yet she's fond of this one. Why him?" She thought to herself. She then snapped out the piece of wood stuck inside him. Ashitaka gave a quick grunt as she disposed the wood.

"Now all we can do is stitch the wound together." Ashitaka loosened the grip on San's breast as she exhaled softly.

Hours have passed. It was then midnight, and the little girl was already fast asleep. Motoko had finished the stitching on the side of his abdomen. "That's the big bit done; now all that's left is his right hand." She picked up the hand and looked at the palm. But she then flinched at the sight of his scar from the demon curse. "My God" she thought to herself, but refused to take that into priority and thought about his health instead. She stitched that up too, and wrapping both injuries in clean cloths. "There; it will be quite sore in the morning, but he will be okay."

"His temperature still seems high." San said in little worry.

"That's normal. It will take a couple of days to go down" Motoko replied as she walked into another room to wash her hands.

"You hear that Ashitaka? You're gonna be fine." San whispered in his ear. Ashitaka was quite dozed off as well. "I'll sleep with you tonight." But first she took a spare blanket and spread it over the little girl. She then went back to Ashitaka and fell asleep by his side, protecting him in his dreams.


	7. Living Nightmare

**Living Nightmare **

Ashitaka stands in the tomb underground of Irontown, with the bluehead lying on the ground as he groans. There's blood spits on the floor. Ashitaka looks at him darkly.

"Hurts now, don't it?" Ashitaka coldly says to him. But he immediately jumps back as Sasuke rises himself back up.

"If you…think you can take me down… you're wrong!" He strains.

"Well…we'll see." Ashitaka is ready to prepare another punch at him. But suddenly a girl aged 10, wearing a pink kimono with wooden sandals starts to run towards him.

"Please stop it!"

"Get back!" his concentration falters as the little girl comes running in, and next he run towards her to protect her from this monster. The striped man smirks at himself. "Now I can show him who he's messing with!" He thinks to himself. Then smiles as he looks into Ashitaka's eyes.  
Then, out of the blue, Ashitaka's left leg flies off him, as if it snapped of him. Ashitaka reached out his right hand, but all the fingers that were attached to him, breaks loose from his hand. Bubbles of blood sprinkles out from him, as his eye pupils get small. The little girl looks at the horror; Ashitaka falls to the ground, with the detached leg landing in front of him. The girl screams frantically. Sasuke scolds at her as he doesn't want to mind this business; so with his invisible, telekinetic powers, he raised the youngster and threw her out of the way.

Ashitaka winces in pain. "My leg! It's gone, so much blood!"

Sasuke looks down to him with evil in is eyes. Ashitaka looks at him angrily.

"What have you done with my leg?!" he shouts, but then his right arm has been pulled off from him. Ashitaka screams in pain as he clutches his remains of his arm.

"…Hurts now, don't it?" Sasuke coldly says. Ashitaka moves away from him.

"Don't…don't….please…" he whimpers, and then looks back at Sasuke.

"…please…don't do it!" Ashitaka implores, but Sasuke's too ignorant to listen; he tears off the last arms and legs of Ashitaka, leaving him limbless. Ashitaka rasps in the throbbing of his wounds, he fall on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"…help. Me…" He gasps silently with his vision getting blurred. The light leaves his eyes as he slowly dies…  
"Help….me…." The vision goes black and turns into complete silence…

…_o-tosan… _

…father…-

Ashitaka suddenly woke up, there was sweat dripping all over his face, he breathed very heavily, but he then started to wince from the sore in his side. He went down there to touch it, but then felt a hand brushing his stomach; it was San's she looked so peaceful and calm when she slept. Ashitaka just stared at her. He just wanted to look at her forever; just seeing how gorgeous she looked. He wanted to brush the hair away from her face, touch her lips and kiss them. He wanted to caress her within his embrace. But he knew he can't open her so easily; because even though San is human in physical form, she's not in spirit. For so many years she has despised humans, and went on bloody rampages to cease the quench of her revenge, but the demons within them still taunts her. So, she can't give her his true love…not yet.

Suddenly, Ashitaka felt a swift, cold breeze brush pass his cheeks; he sensed something. He rose onto his feet carefully, without waking San up, and put on his red-spilt kimono with a hole through it. He then cautiously walked out of the room as he went through the slide. Out in the open he could see the midnight sky, with the merging colors of black and blue. The stars shimmered into little lamps to shine their light down on earth; they glimmered into Ashitaka's eyes. The whole landscape was silent, except for the calm wind floating pass. He breathed in the clean air into his lungs and exhaled back out.

"I hope Kaya is alright." Ashitaka thought to himself as he remembered the memories of being in his hometown with his sister. "She must the new leader now, and found a husband to love. I hope…no…she must have forgotten me by now." He thought again sadly.

"Are you alright?" a small voice came out from behind him. He took a quick gasp and looked behind him; it was only San.

"I'm fine, thank you." Ashitaka replied to her. San gave a faint smile to him. "Are _you _alright?" He then asked her.

"I'm ok." She trailed off. Ashitaka then took his attention onto her.  
"You're not, are you?"

"I said I'm ok!" San snapped at him, and then brought a sigh onto her face. "I don't know…" she sighed, looking down to the ground. "I could have lost you tonight."

"I know San." Ashitaka reassured her. "But how did you manage to get into Irontown within enough time to save me?" San gripped onto her dress as her eyes began to water.

"Because…because…" she whimpered. But then Ashitaka got distracted by a sense he picked up. "What is it?" San questioned him.

"Someone is here; not far away, someone…it's him!"

Sasuke was found in another bungalow near next door to Ashitaka and the others. The room was kept dark and gloomy; there were also blood drops on the floor. He then pulled out a fragment of steel out from forehead; where Motoko threw her dagger at him to knock him out.

"Dammit! That girl sure knows how to knock a person out." He cringed in ache, and then dampened the wound with a wet towel to remove any bacteria infest in it. Sasuke then felt dizzy and tired, he started to hyperventilate a little, then a lot. He then rolled back his eyes and collapsed to the ground. It was if he was having a seizure, quite a violent one. His vision started to get blurry, and went shadowy.

"What's happening to me?" he whispered to himself, and then drifted into space. Very…silently…  
"Are you really gonna go through it?" a male voice speaks to him. Sasuke looks down on him. There's something different about him; his hair is dark chocolate brown, his eyes are gleaming hazel, and there were no stripes on his cheeks.

"Yeah. It's the only way I can get rid of this thing once and for all."

"But I thought the curse has disappeared." The man stands up from a bench and l looks at him.

"Only a few had survived this type of disease. I'm one of the lucky ones, but then their bodies change into monstrous mutations that turn them into demons themselves."

"And you don't want that to be your fate."

"No, I don't. I've got my whole life ahead of me, and I still got to find the perfect girl for me."

"You're gonna need luck for that."

"I don't need luck!" Sasuke chuckles at the man and nudges him in the shoulder.

"Well, I best be off." The man then turns into the opposite direction of Sasuke's.

"Hey, Kurama." Sasuke shouts at him.

"What's up?" The man wonders.

"Can you be with me? For the Operation?"

"Sure friend." Kurama replies, and carries on walking, as so does Sasuke.

It's the day of the operation. Sasuke is lying on an operating table looking at the light shining down on him; he turns his head to Kurama.

"It's finally happening; I will be free from my fate."

"Yeah you will be, and we can hang around together more often." Sasuke chuckles at him again. Then a nurse who is dressed in light blue walks up to him.

"I'm afraid you're gonna have to strip."

"Everything?" Sasuke asked worryingly.

"Everything." Then nurse replies, and then walks out of the room.

"Good luck with that then!" Kurama sniggers at him and runs out of the room.

"Bitch!" Sasuke jokes at him as he rises to his feet and enrobes himself, all the way. He then wraps a blanket around his…his…YOU KNOW WHERE! I'M NOT GONNA SAY IT! Let's just call it; his wiener. And falls flat back down onto the table.

"Are you finished yet?" Kurama shouts out.

"Yeah, you can come in now!" Sasuke replies, then Kurama come back in, but behind Kurama is a bunch of doctors in black comes in as well.

"We can't have visitors watching the operation, I'm sorry." Kurama sighs as he looks at Sasuke.

"I'll be right outside ok?" Sasuke nods his head at him as he walks out of the room. The doctors then walk to him, with a bag of needles in it.

"We're going to give you an injection with a chemical that will make you go subconscious, and then while you sleep, we will begin the operation." Sasuke then nods at them as they jab with the needle in his arm, they then wait for the action the take hold, Sasuke looks at the ceiling above him, as he then drifts into a black hole in his mind.

Hours have pass, and the operation is still going on. Sasuke is still in deep space, with his eyes calmly closed. But then a voice comes into his head.

"You must be Sasuke then." The voice seems to be male; Sasuke opens his eyes, but is still in his dream.

"Who are you?" Sasuke questions him. There's a man figure kneeling down in front of him, with his hair covering his face.

"You should know; I'm the new owner of your human body."

"I don't understand." The strange man sighs at him.

"Do you know what's going to happen to you after your 'miraculous' operation?"

"Yes; I will be rid of this curse."

"That's only what you think." Sasuke then looks curiously at him.

"What?"

"These doctors, these liars; their performing this surgical procedure to revive the curse."

"You're lying!" Sasuke shouts at him.

"Why do you think…" The man unveiled his face to him, he looks just like him, except from his midnight blue hair, his insipid sapphire eyes, and his blue tiger stripes on his cheeks. "…I look so much like you then?" Sasuke gasps at him in shock.

"It's too bad though…you won't survive after this operation."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke's other half then presses his fore fingers to his fore head and make him cry out in pain.

Out of his dream, he's already crying out in pain.

"I think we should stop." One doctor says with his hands covered in red.

"No! We carry on with the operation!" Another snaps at him.

"I can't believe it." Sasuke trails off.

"You should. But if you join me, let me come into you; you won't ever have to suffer death." Sasuke then looks up at him.

"You're strong, and I have powers beyond imagination. Together, we can be one god, and the ability to become immortal." Sasuke thinks to himself for a moment, and then looks at him with a sinister look on his face.

"Let's show these bastards who they're dealing with."

"Right…" But then the pain grows deeper and more aching than before.

He then bursts out from his dream, and jumps out from the table, grabbing his head with his hands and kneels down. The doctors are quite startled at this point.

"Did we do it?" one of them asks, so then another walks slowly close to him, and reaches out his hand.

"Sir, are you ok?"

"Oh…I'm fine. In fact, I'm…" He pauses for a moment.

"I'm a God." Suddenly the doctor feels a numb pain in his stomach; it then bursts out from its skin shell, decorating the floor and the table. The others are horrified, and then Sasuke rises up and looks at them; with his midnight blue hair, his insipid sapphire eyes, and his distinctive stripes.

"Get security in here now!" one doctor gasps. But his head then suddenly departs from his neck with fountains of blood spewing out. Sasuke has been turned into a demon like god. But as he looks down, he sees the reflection of his image in the blood.

"No…no…NO!!" He screams and runs out, crashing through the wooden walls and into the main entrance. He sees the cuts all over his body and the blood on his hands.

"AAAARRRRGGH!!" He screams out and breaks open the slide into the white.

_...koroshiya_…

_-_ killer -

Sasuke then woke up from his dream from the pain in his head. He stared at the ceiling for the moment, and raised his top half up from the ground.

"He's wrong; I'm not a God, I'm…something else." He sighed to himself. And then he stood up and walked out of the room to get some fresh air.

"That man can't be in this house." San looked at the building with Ashitaka.

"It is. I can sense him here."

"Well if he is here, we better show him some of our own manners!" San growled as she ran to the door.

"San wait!" Ashitaka cried out. But Sasuke already opened the slide with San stood right at the edge of it. Sasuke then raised his head up to see the two of them.

"I knew it! It's…it's you!" Ashitaka growled at him. The two of them stared into each others eyes, Sasuke and Ashitaka grew angry at each other, but they didn't know what will happen next. So they stood placidly, until their next move commenced.


	8. Infant

**Infant**

Sasuke and Ashitaka were stood outside the house that Sasuke had just opened the door for fresh air. He stared maliciously at him, while Ashitaka grew angry as his heart rate thumped faster per second.

"You!" growled San fiercely, but Sasuke coldly smacked her side into some bushes behind her with his vectors. She collapsed to the ground as she grazed her elbow on it.

"Don't you DARE touch San!" Ashitaka ferociously snarled at Sasuke, yet he just scoffs at him with black humour.

"You're still trying to fight me, boy? Even though you are no match for me?" Ashitaka gritted his teeth at him and clenched his fists. San wobbled herself back up by gripping onto Ashitaka's kimono.

"You had no right attacking Ashitaka like that!" she scolded at Sasuke.

"What is it to you, human?" His insult angered them both deeply, but has raged Ashitaka more. He might have been forgiving; but he did have his limits. Ashitaka wouldn't anyone hurt San physically or emotionally, because he loved her dearly, and would have done anything to protect her; even if it means sacrificing his self. So he sprinted to Sasuke.

There was then a loud crash that woke up the little girl from her peaceful sleep. Her hair had suddenly turned static as her eyes became alive again.

"What was that?" She thought to herself, and she then rose to her feet and walked outside of the house, where Motoko remained at rest from her emergency surgery on Ashitaka.

Sasuke was then found against a wall from his house, he panted heavily; trying to catch his breath. He started to stutter as he gradually fell to the ground, he ended up resting on the floor with his head facing down. Ashitaka was still standing, but was clutching onto his wound to make sure it wasn't bleeding again. San grew worried for Ashitaka again to make sure that he won't pass out again. Sasuke looked like that he was dead again; not making a move or sound, it kind of scared Ashitaka for a bit, because he desperately needed to ask him questions. Thankfully Sasuke wasn't dead; he then exhaled out and looked firm at Ashitaka.

"Was that your best shot?" he spoke weakly at him. Ashitaka puff out a breath in disturbance, Sasuke then rose back up slowly and resumed his observation towards at him. "Do you really think without the use of my arms I won't still be lethal?" He made his knuckles crack by clenching them.

"San stay back!" Ashitaka panicked as he pushed his hand towards San to shield her San. He then sprinted back to Sasuke with his fists scrunched and his mind concentrated. "I can do this." He thought to himself as he ran towards him. But Sasuke had a trick up his sleeve; he let loose of a sai behind his back belt, and gripped it tightly for when Ashitaka comes launching onto him.

Suddenly, the little girl from the other house; came walking in and saw the ferocious beasts commencing another battle, she also saw Ashitaka unsheathing and small red blade that he cut his hair with from his old village; the night of his exile. The girl grew scared and didn't want another bloodbath.

"Please stop!" She screamed at them, as she then ran towards Sasuke.

Motoko suddenly woke up from her rest; she sensed that something has happened.

"Who is that?" she wondered, as she rose to her feet to check out her curiosity.

Sasuke was standing in his position, quite startled with the girl clinging onto his clothes, Ashitaka was quite startled as well from her too, as so was San. Sasuke loosened the grip of his sai and looked down onto her.

"What…are you doing?" he snarled at her softly.

"No more pain! No more!" she implored to him. Ashitaka calmly contained his anger as he didn't want to scare her. San, somewhat, just looked at her with curiosity.

_Why did she stop them? Why did she save him when he tried to kill her? _She thought to herself.

Sasuke then turned his head to where Motoko was resting, looking at it with caution. He then gently shoved the girl to one and looked viciously at Ashitaka.

"This fight isn't over." He lowly growled at him.

"I know." Ashitaka replied back. Sasuke started to walk away from him and back into the solitary mist from whence he came. But the young girl stopped him in his tracks.

"Stop!" the girl wept softly at him as he looked down on her with annoyance.

"Stop being the bad guy!!" She suddenly screamed out, Sasuke then stared at her with the slightest of interest, giving her a stern, but merciful look, it was very hard to describe. But San's face turned pale by the very words that blurted out from the young girl's lips.

She then saw in her head; another young girl in a silhouette figure, screaming at her with tears flying out from her eyes.

"_Stop being the bad guy!!" _

"AAARGH!" San began to screech out in pain as she clutched hold of her hair with her hands.

"San! What's the matter?" Ashitaka turned his attention onto her as she collapsed onto her knees, grasping her head. Sasuke then got distracted by the look of the strange wolf girl that saw as if she was having a minor epileptic seizure.

"Don't…say that!" she rasped silently in a cold, deep voice.

"San?" Ashitaka knelt down beside her.

"My name…is not San!" she growled lowly. Then he clutched onto her shoulders and swung her round to look at her face.

"What are you talking about?" Ashitaka questioned her quite fiercely.

"I-I…I…don't know!" She began to panic.

"You're just tired, you need rest." He cooed back to her, clutching her hand gently and rose her up from the ground.

"You…" Sasuke whispered and then sighed ignorantly, turning his head to his side. The little girl then started to cling onto his kimono again.

"Please stay! Don't go! Please!" The girl started to trickle with tears from her eyes. Sasuke looked down at her again, and lowered his deluded harsh expressions.

"No." he coldly replied as he looked away again the girl gasped and quivered inside her, with her watery eyes trembled in sorrow. Ashitaka looked intently at her. He just stared at her, thinking.

"That girl definitely needs him. It's strange; a young defenseless girl needing the help and comfort of a cruel, malicious man. Yet, if he so cruel; why didn't he kill her when he had the chance? Why wouldn't cut her down like wheat and leave them on the ground to rot, just like he always does? It must mean he still has good inside him. All I have to do…is to bring that out." He kept looking at them both and decided to take some action.

"Yes he will." he stood out. All of the others gasped at him, even Sasuke stuttered for that second.

"Ashitaka what are you talking about?!" San growled at him as she then scolded at Sasuke's insipid blue eyes.

"Would you, please?!" the little girl implored slightly violently. Sasuke's bitter cold face loosened its grip a little, and then lowered his face down, covering his eyes with his hair.

"I've got no choice, have I?" He said quietly. Suddenly the girl's face lit up with a sense of joy, but San's face turned to worry.

"Ashitaka…"

"I have questions to ask him." Ashitaka replied in a secret voice. The young girl then embraced Sasuke into her arms, but hr pushed her away calmly.

"Stop touching me; it cramps my style." He said quietly.

"Yeah, I will!" the little girl blushed with the slightest of embarrassment.

"Ashitaka, don't do this! This…thing tried to kill you! And I will not let that happen again!" San whispered unpleasantly in his ear.

"San, there's something in him that's not right, I can sense it."

"And what will you do; save him? You can't rescue the world Ashitaka." He then turned his face to her.

"At least I've got to try." Ashitaka replied to her, as they both walked into the direction of their own hideout. Sasuke was still standing behind them as if he was in denial to move. But then the little girl chuckled and grasped hold of his left hand. Sasuke stuttered again, however he didn't make any refusal of the young girl's benevolence, he had just given up the idea of being 'alone' for the night; he was just too tired.

"Motoko will kill him when she will see him." San mentioned to Ashitaka.

"It will take a great deal of negotiation for take care of that."

"Yes, but might have to get use to it, and control herself from killing him." Ashitaka replied.

"Where is everyone?" Motoko thought to herself as she stands alone in the house. Then she hears whispers from outside, and decided to pull herself closer to the doors. Meanwhile, the rest were outside, trying to unravel the lock on the door.

"Seems to be stuck." Ashitaka grunted as he struggled a bit to unlock it.

"I hope that other girl isn't with you." Sasuke quietly whispered to the air.

"Why? What has she got against you?" San snapped at him cynically.

Then he turned his head slowly to her.

"She's out to kill me."

Ashitaka was then swung onto one side as the door was finally opened by Motoko.

"Where have you been?" Motoko asked quite worryingly.

"Motoko!" San exclaimed, as Motoko then saw the familiar face that startled her; the face with two stripes on each cheek can could not have been missed; she had found him in her grasp.

"_Kira!" _

Kira can also be another word for killer, like the phrase used in 'Death Note'-

She then took hold of a dagger from her backside, and clutched hold of Sasuke's neck; pushing him into the bushes with the blade pressed against his vulgar skin.

"Motoko stop! He won't harm us if we don't harm him!" Ashitaka exclaimed.

"What the hell are you talking about?! He's a murderer for god sake!" Sasuke then gripped onto her wrist that was holding her dagger, he then clenched it tightly but slowly, giving him enough strength to make her release the blade from her hand. And so he did, and then looked down at her.

"I only kill when I get pissed off." He scolded at her gently. Motoko got seriously worried then as she thought that she was going to die at that second, but he just gradually released his grip on her, and then let her go completely. Sasuke walked away from her as he brushed her shoulder aside. Motoko was stunned.

_Why didn't he kill me? Something's changed. _

"Am I still invited? Or can I be set free from your mind prison?" He sarcastically asked Ashitaka.

"We're not trying to capture you; we only want to treat you normally." Sasuke looked at him deeply, and then turned his head to the door, and walked on in. Ashitaka then turned to Motoko.

"How could you?" she deeply implied to him.

"There are questions that need asking." Ashitaka replied, she then sighed to herself and turned stern again.

"One strike and I cut his throat, you hear?" She firmly spoke to him.

"Agreed." He replied again, as Motoko and he walked back into the house. Sasuke was stood within the middle, with his hands tucked into his pockets. The young girl was parading around him with delight.

"Can he sleep with me tonight?"

"No!" Motoko commanded tightly at her, the little girl then looked up at him, but he looked away again.  
"You better do as she says." He spoke lowly to her. The girl then immediately stepped away from him as she too; also know the dangers of Sasuke. Ashitaka then looks at her.

"What is your name?" Ashitaka questioned her politely

"My name is Kaya." Ashitaka then took on a small sad face onto him, and stood silent for a bit.

"You know, I had a sister called Kaya once…she would be grown-up by now." He spoke quite depressingly at her. "And who is your father?"

"My father is dead." Ashitaka then felt some sorrow for the girl.

"What about your mother then?"

"Shirikawa Eboshi." Ashitaka and San gasped at that very moment, but Motoko grew white and sick by the very words.

"Your…mother…is Lady Eboshi." She questioned her nervously.

"Was; she's dead too." Motoko shuddered for a second, Sasuke looked at her intently.

"Motoko what's wrong?" San worried.

"Nothing, I'm fine." She sniffed and brushed her hair back to wipe away the droplets of tears from her eyes. "Let's go in." She quivered a little bit as she walked into the house with Ashitaka. He looked at her with curiosity as the answers from Kaya distraught her.  
"Ashitaka." San spoke out as he walked up to her.

"I'm here, San." He clutched her hands softly but she flinched from his very touch.

"I'm sorry." He immediately let go of her. _"Baka Ashitaka!"_ he thought to himself.

"No…" San then interrupted, and regained the tender touch of his hands onto hers. "…I don't mind…now." Ashitaka slowly smiled at her with glee, as so did San. She walked back with her hands still connected to Ashitaka's, making him follow her footsteps. But the small teasing was then corrupted as she tripped over a blanket she once slept in, bringing down Ashitaka with her. He ended up falling on top of her; with his hands on her waist and his head accidentally placed between her breasts. They both blushed into rich cherry blossoms. San felt invaded of her intimate matters, but she liked it, particularly if it was someone whom she'd known for a long time. Ashitaka slowly got up, being careful of where he placed his hands, and then gently brought San back up.

"Sorry again." From the moment he got San back up, he walked away from her, because he didn't want her to get angry at him. San couldn't help but stare at him in sorrow.

"He's enamored with me." She thought to herself.

_No he's not._

A faint whisper came behind her ear as she spun around to see who that was. She stared into the atmosphere to see who is messing with her head.

"Shut up." She spoke quite out loudly and walked into the other room to get some sleep from the remaining of the night.

…_Baka…baka kimi…_


	9. Vanity and Dejection

**Vanity and Dejection **

The sun rose early the next morning; the sky was painted in an oily scarlet color. The others were still asleep; Ashitaka, San, Sasuke and Kaya, but Motoko wasn't found in her room. She was already out in the pastel landscape of the forest; where there was a lucent cerulean lake near by, with a variety of fish to capture and eat. She tied her hair back with a small black ribbon and rolled up her sleeves, she let down her leather shoes, revealing her pale feet, and dipped them into the cool clear water. However, she wasn't in the water to catch any fish; she was in the water to think back to her memories.

_This is for you, Motoko. _

In her mind, there was a tall old man, quite muscled and thick in flesh. And there was she; younger than she is now, about the age of 16, she was wearing a pure white kimono with a dark red long skirt tied around her waist. The man held out a samurai sword, sheathed in its shell. She then grasped hold of it, seeing the diamond decorations on the handle. Her eyes glistened a little as she unsheathed the rapier from the shell and let reflect the sunlight upon her face. She smiled at it with joy, and then looked up at the man.

"Thank you father!" she gasped.

"It belonged to your mother, she wanted to give it to you herself but she has been busy recently" Motoko still smiled at him.

"You're going to be our new leader soon; you need an instrument of death to help you survive." She sighed a little when she heard those words come out of her father's mouth; she looked down at the sword at again, and sheathed it back.

…_korosu ne!! _

-I'll kill you!!-

She then saw herself slam down a slide with the sword unleashed, and herself thrashing herself onto someone, but whom? Who?

She woke up again, and in distraught, she kicked over the water and stomped out of the lake, putting her shoes back on and dragged her feet back to the house.

By the time she reached to the slide door. She didn't make her way in. She still thought about what little girl Kaya said about her mother, it was something that disturbed her deeply; just by the name Eboshi. What is the link between them both? What sort of relationship did she have between them? Was it friendship? Was it partnership? Or was it something more? Something…more bonding…? Motoko slowly reached her hand to the handle, hesitating a little. But the door was then suddenly opened by Sasuke. He stared at her calmly, but Motoko sinisterly scolded at him.

"There's no need of that attitude with me; I'm not going to kill you."

"Yet. How do I know you will keep your word?" She brushed past him hastily and walked on by into her room. Sasuke resumed his observation to her.

"Something's digging her up." He thought to himself, and then walked out of the house.

Ashitaka woke up finally from his tiring dream, at least it wasn't another nightmare, but he still felt exhausted from the last night. However, he was prepared to be set out for another adventurous day. He put on his shoes and headed outside his room. Whist putting on his navy sleeves; he accidentally bumped into San.

"Oh! San."

"Hi Ashitaka." They both hesitated a little, they tried to move to one side but they kept getting into each others way, so San then grasped his arms and swung each other round to one side.

"There you go; there's no hassle now." San chuckled.

"Right." Ashitaka blushed a little and then turned to one side. He stopped for a second and thought to himself.

"San?"

"Yes?" She replied.

"I was hoping…can I…I…"

"Yes…?"

"…Can I…" He started to hyperventilate again.

"Yes…" San might have been hoping the same thing he was just going to ask him. What could it have been?

"…Can I…" He then sighed to himself. "…Nothing." San then puffed out some air. "I'll see you later." He walked away from her as she stood on her spot.

"Why won't he say it? Is it because I will get angry at him? Is he afraid of me?" she thought to herself.

…_Baka…of course he's afraid of you; everyone is…_ A young girl's voice occurred in her head again.

"I said shut up!" San snarled at the voice.

…_You can't shut me up; no one can… _

"Then who are you?"

…_you should know…we are very alike… _

The voice disappeared again, with San standing in a solitary position.

Meanwhile, Ashitaka was also outside in the fresh air, his body was filthy from mud and blood.

"I need to wash myself, but where?" he thought to himself, and then he spotted some steam coming from another side of the houses. They weren't very far away; about a few fifty yards. So he walked over there; wondering if that was place where he could bathe in. He brushed past the bushes and a tepid pool. It was also accompanied with a stormy waterfall, the pool itself was purely filtered; not a spec of impurity in it, all he could see though it was a vivid color of marbled pebbles decorated on the ground, the ripples glistened in the sunlight as they shone off beautiful rays of light into the air, and freshened the air with a dewdrop smell that cleansed the sky.

"I didn't know there is hot springs here." Ashitaka spoke to himself. He dipped his fingers into the water. "The temperature seems right." He then slowly got himself back up and unrobed himself, unveiling his wound that is little by little, healing up. As there was then nothing to cover himself with; he walked into the hot springs and gave off a relaxing "aaaahhhh….." into the atmosphere. He sat down, leaned his back to a rock and tilted his head to the sky.

"What's happening to me recently? What was that memory I had in Irontown? I haven't remembered that for a long time. Whatever it was, this should refresh me up now." He gradually drooped his eyes and exhaled; maybe going off into another dream. In his mind there was pure sunlight in his head, and then San suddenly came fading in.

"Ashitaka…do you want to be with me? Why don't you join with me? It would be quite comfortable…" She warmly cooed to him as she drew herself closer to him. But then she burst into a bomb of dark vicious blood, and a young boy; at thirteen years of age, came out screaming whilst covered in blood and tears.

_PLEASE STOP IT ALEADY!! _

Ashitaka suddenly woke up in shock, his face was already covered in sweat, whether it was his quick dream or the hot springs, he then became a little scared of this repressed memory he had at the back of his head. But he quietly relaxed himself, and crossed his arms as he brought his knees closer to his body.

"What is happening to me?" He spoke to himself again. But he abruptly threw that over his head and got back up, drying himself in the shade and clothing himself again.

The bath didn't refresh him at all, although he was clean physically; he still felt dirty in his mental brain. He walked on by back to the house; where then he came face to face with Sasuke. They both stood in front of each other for that moment, when then Sasuke held a hook filled with enough fish to last for three days.

"I got you guys' breakfast." He said sulkily and walked into the house.

"Is he always this grumpy?" Ashitaka thought to himself as he followed him a few steps behind.

Sasuke opened the slide with San standing in front of him. Sasuke just nodded at her and walked on by, she saw Ashitaka coming up from behind him and smiled.

"Where have you been?"

"I just needed to bathe."

"Well I was going to say." The both chuckled as then walked into the house together.

As Sasuke walked into one the rooms; he saw Kaya awaken to see him.

"You got food!" she brightened up.

"It's just breakfast." He moaned back. Kaya just smiled at him though, Ashitaka wondered about her behavior around Sasuke.

"Whenever he's with him, he sees her as a brotherly figure. I don't know…but it does seem like a possibility." He thought to himself again.

Later on within the day, Motoko geared herself you with some trusty daggers and a pair of bullet-filled handguns to protect herself with. But then San walked into her way.

"Where are you going?" San questioned her quite startlingly.

"I'm going back to Irontown; I need some questions answering."

"Then let me come with you."

"No." Motoko sternly spoke back.

"It's too dangerous to come with me, or go back home."

"I can handle danger; I not some pathetic human who just let their enemies trample all over them!"

"San, to your enemies, your dagger is nothing more than a mere tool; you know that." San didn't return an answer, but quite an angry look at Motoko, as if she knew she was right, but didn't want to admit it.

"You just make sure Ashitaka doesn't start bleeding again." She walked out of the house with the door slit shut. San then sighed to herself in silence.

_That's right; do this, do that, you're now taking orders from a human. How low do you really want to go? _

"Stop it! I don't know who you are, so leave me alone!" She squealed to the eerie voice. Then a black image merged into her imagination, poisoning it with a black liquid substance that unpurified her.

_Come on now, why can't it be like before; just the two of us, killing whoever or whatever that came our way…_

"Shut up!!" She turned her head away and found Ashitaka staring at her strangely.

"San, what's wrong?"

"Someone is trying to…" She started to clutch onto her forehead with one of her hands, her eyes grew small and shaking with fear and her breath quickened its pace as she heaved in enormous amounts of air.

"What is it?" Ashitaka questioned her once more, but then she gasped and froze for moments. Then she slowly laid low her hand and returned silence.

"I think…I need to leave this house."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry; I'll come back for sure." She calmly answered back to Ashitaka and walked out of the house. Ashitaka was still puzzled from her unusual behavior then.

"There's something wrong with her." Sasuke said behind him, leaning against a wall.

"Well of course there is." Ashitaka hissed back.

"Not in that way; something is trying to take over her." He got off the wall and tried to look in the direction to where San was heading.

"But how would you know? You're only human in the end." Ashitaka stood firm but corrected from those words he heard from Sasuke, he then walked off with Sasuke staring at him behind his back.

Motoko finally made her way to the wrecked village. The wooden gates that used to be sweet timber, now smothered in black soot, with decorations of blood spilt on them. Motoko shivered a little, and then walked in with no fear. She already saw the massacre that Lord Asano's army had left behind within one night. She stared at the horror as she walked through the bloody graves of those whose innocent lives have been lost for one mans greed.

"My God." She gasped. But she hadn't the time to feel sorrow for the ghosts; she had to find out the reason for this killing. So she ran up to head office, and lit up a candle to scrabble through the heaps of paperwork. It took her hours; sweat already began to drip down from her forehead, yet no matter how long; she will still search to find the source of it all. Until one faithful letter came along:

_Sichigatsu 1192, _

_-July 1192- _

_The month the star festival; I still hold power over the Irontown, yet I still have yet to gain power to search for my eldest daughter… _

Motoko paused for a moment, and then carried on reading.

…_However, that must be put on a hold yet again; for I have new trouble upon my hands. _

_Lord Asano still holds an army against me, and threatens to ravage my town and kill my people. But that would be impossible since I weapons that make his obsolete. And I have Ashitaka; the one man I can fully rely on (apart from Gonza of course) and with his defense with mine, we are invincible. _

_But…I still have personal matters to sort out; my late daughter, Kaya. She had just returned from the island Kyoko. _

_-Actual island in Japan, go ahead, look it up- _

_She had just returned after living with her foster parents, Toki and Korokhu. I feel sympathy for them both, for that Toki can't have children, so I asked Kaya to see if she wants to stay with them for a little while, because I had work to do. _

_But not just for that reason, I still have to wonder how I'm going to tell her that Asano is her father. Every moment I remember his name I always regretted meeting or knowing him. I wish that I could have turned back the time to where I could still be with my first family. I hope that one day my first daughter will forgive me. But I'm afraid, when I die, my possessions won't go to her, but to Kaya. _

_However, I'm afraid I will never get the chance to apologize to her, since Asano is already sending me death threats to me. Hmmm…Kusoyara. So I sent out Ashitaka as my top soldier to watch out for any…dangers. He told me that he will come and kill me, I don't know what day or hour, but he will come for me. _

_So in my final paragraph, I will be prepared for what danger comes into my way. Even when Asano says "Give me my iron or give me my daughter." It will be neither, because giving away my iron would be giving away my people. And too my eldest descendant; I will give her something even more precious. _

_Yours Sincerely, _

_Lady Eboshi. _

"So…" Motoko spoke to herself. "…this is how it all happened. Asano couldn't get custody of Kaya, so he tried to snatch her of Eboshi instead." She then heard rattling in a corner.

"I've been spotted!" she gasped as she shot up, gearing up one of her pistols.

"No…I haven't, yet I should leave." She whispered to herself. But then she heard a conversation going on in the background, so she behind a secret room that was covered in burnt paper and soot. As she heard the conversation approaching towards her, so did two men. One man she was familiar with, one she wasn't.

"It's Asano!" Motoko whispered as she eavesdropped on their talking.

"Here it is; all the filth of that old hag's work." Asano spoke

"Thank you, but do you have any information that you can give me?" The other man replied.

"What type of information?"

"Since going through Irontown, have you ever come across a young man with a red mask?"

"I'm afraid I haven't seen a man such as you described to me. But some of my Samurais did, they also said to me that he was with a girl."

"A girl?"

"Yes; they said she was wearing wolf fur, with red wolf teeth painted on her face; almost inhuman." The other man then a wicked smile.

"Find any witnesses and kill them, especially the young man. But bring me the girl; she is of value to me."

"A wife of yours?"

"No…someone more precious than a mere wife, but I will tell you later. Get your men check the entire perimeter, and kill any survivors found. And don't forget, outside the area."

"Yes…Keirtoro." Asano walked off with his heavy samurai armor weighing him down.

Motoko had heard enough of the conversation and ran out of Irontown from the secret escape route she had once run out from before.

It was already dusk, Ashitaka was found standing outside of the house, looking into the forest; he was waiting for San to return to him.

"Where could she be?" he wondered to himself, he then heard some rustling behind him, he turned his head to his opposite direction and wondered what that was. Tension started to build in his veins, his mind started to blur with paranoia, and his skin started to dampen with sweat. Suddenly he felt someone grabbing onto his shoulder and flung him round. Then the person gripped him with her arm's embrace and squeezed him tight; it was San.

"San what's wrong?" Ashitaka panicked a little, San was blurting out tears and screamed out in pain within her heart.

"Help me!! Please help me!!" she cried out.

"What's happened?" Ashitaka question her but she was still grabbing onto him tight and blared out sirens of sorrow.

Ashitaka quickly brought her inside, and covered her in a beige blanket to stop her shivering. Tears were still drawing out from her eyes.

"San, what has happened?"

"…My brothers are dead."

"What?" Ashitaka sat in shock.

"MY BROTHERS ARE DEAD!!" She squealed out and then brought back to her tears.

"I'm sorry."

"There was nothing you can do; you were out of their reach. It is me who they should blame."

"Don't say that!" Ashitaka then swung his arms around her and embraced her tightly to his chest. "Whatever happened; it wasn't your fault. You helped me from Irontown; their was nothing you could have done either." San endured his touched and brought it to her heart.

Sasuke watched them both from the other room and looked with curiosity; his placid eyes looked at them carefully, and then walked away.

Then Motoko walked back into the house and saw Sasuke. They stared at each other for a bit but Motoko immediately walked into another room.

She placed down some of Eboshi's paperwork she managed to take from Irontown. She then took hold of the one she was reading before, with her lit candle still awake.

"…It won't be long before they will find us…" Sasuke's voice came from behind her; she quickly spun round to him.

"…The men who killed Eboshi."

"I know that." She calmly replied back at him.

"Its strange how you still manage to get on with me…" he spoke in an unearthly voice. "…unless…you already know…my statistics of my occupation."

Motoko gripped onto her kimono quite tightly. "I know the quick and ugly version."

"No, you're afraid you'll be crossed off."

"Has it now entered our minds?" she questioned him spookily as she let go of all of her weaponry. He then walked up to her very closely; where their bodies almost touched. He stared at her firmly yet calmly at the same time, Motoko tried to keep a stern face but trembled slightly, he then made her back up to the desk behind her.

"I asked what you thought." Sasuke spoke with flirt whilst Motoko hunched her shoulders a little bit.

"You scare me Sasuke. Is that what you want to hear? Now will you just let me get back to work?" She then swung back round and carried on ruffling her papers.

"I've been meaning to talk to you…" he walked up behind her again. "…unrestrained." He reached up to her back again. "Do you think…that I should be in this group, or am I just a nuisance?"

"…Why? Did you hear anything?"

"Well…" He then resolutely placed his hands onto hers whist they were still on the desk. "…I know you've always tried to 'X' me off your list; yet never released your full potential on me." She started to shake a little, but Sasuke carried on whispering in her ear. "…Or you don't know that. You're not here to kill me. You may have those sharp blades…" Motoko clenched her fist within Sasuke's and started to hyperventilate. "…and that red stitching…but that's just a show…" He brushed his face through her luscious hair across to her other side. "…and I'm the audience. Why are you really here? What is it you have t-

"Don't…waste…my time!" she hesitated. "The fewer days I have to spend here; the fewer days I have to put up with you." She rushed passed him and placed her weaponry onto another desk. But the footsteps just kept approaching to her, only this time he trapped her waist within his arms and whispered into her ear once more.

"I don't know how long we have to stay like this Motoko. But I do know; once the real torture starts…" She started to blush from his hard clutch around her. "…this psychotic fuck family to going to get torn apart." Sasuke then immediately let go of Motoko and walked away; leaving her to shake.

"Do you ever wonder why you feel like something's missing." He turned his head to her again. "Ask him; ask the man that killed the mother who wished to see you once more." Motoko gasped and looked behind her, but he was already gone. She collapsed to the floor in wreck.

"He can see right through me…"


	10. Dreams

**Dreams**

It was quite early in the morning when the blood red sun rose up from the night sky. Ashitaka laid in another bed quite fast asleep. Yet he started to shiver a little, then a lot. His started to void with disturbing thoughts of his reticent childhood.

In his psyche, he stood in an unknown building, with a man encircled him in his arms. He couldn't see the figure that was holding him so tightly. In front of him was, a mixture of orange and red firelight, with samurais surround him. Suddenly they all just wiped down, like cut wheat. But one man was still standing, like the person holding him; he was also unknown to his eyes. He raised his one hand, and then the silhouettes protecting him pushed him to one side. A squelch was then heard from him. He started to fell. He laid collapsed on the ground. Dead. Ashitaka looked at himself, his hands were covered in blood, so were his clothes; his blue ocean kimono stained with red stains. He then started to quiver, and shake violently. His voice trembled, and tears started to trickle down his cheek. He then turned himself to the other black figure; with no form of emotion whatsoever, and shouted at him with despair and anger;

"YAMEROU!!"

- STOP IT!! –

He started to hear a voice calling his name.  
"_Ashitaka…Ashitaka…Ashitaka!" _He suddenly woke up, with San looking closely down onto his face. He jerked a little from the slight startle he got from her.

"You're sweating, is it a bad dream?" She questioned him.

"Yeah…" he panted. "…it's just a bad dream." He then reassured her. San smiled at him, as she placed one of her hands onto his. He then looked down from the emotion she was unveiling to him, they then looked at each other for a moment; it was quite peaceful, and romantic. But it was then disturbed from Kaya's running feet down the hall as she chased Sasuke. She then managed to cling onto his back as he cringed a little.

"Sasuke! Pease play with me!"

"Why can't you ask Motoko?" he asked with annoyance.

"Because she's gone to bath!"

"Oh…" Sasuke quietly spoke. "…that reminds me, I need to bathe too." He whispered to himself.

"Ooh! Can I bathe with you?" Sasuke stiffened and gulped as he heard those disturbing words roll out from Kaya's mouth.

"No way! No way in hell!!" He shouted back at her. "I'm going!" he stomped his way out of the house and slammed the slide shut. Kaya just looked at him blankly, with Ashitaka and San slowly peeping out fro the other room.

"What's the matter with him?" Ashitaka asked.

"He's always grumpy! What do you expect?" San joked with him, but he still kept his wandering thoughts to himself.

Motoko was already in the hot springs; with her snowy skin gleaming reflections of light from her as the warm soothing of the water ripples pass her lightened body. The ends of her ginger red hair swayed with cool breeze brushing pass her light rosy cheeks and her emerald eyes glistened with the mirror image of the sunshine.

"People always say that a good bath replenishes you, but most of the time, all it ever does is bring me bad memories." She thought to herself as she released her stress in the water. She tilted her head back slowly and closed her eyelids gradually. She started to dream…

_What's happening now? _

A voice occurred into her head…

…She saw herself in a small traditional house, wearing snow white robes and a dark ruby red long skirt, with her orange flower hair was stretched and tied back with a stick holding it up. She held a samurai sword sheathed in its case, and her eyes were observing the outside, with another young soldier standing next to her, with a sword too, but more mere and obsolete than hers.

"We will be expecting intruders to come soon." Spoke to man.

"Do we have any idea who?" the young man paused his speaking.

"…Emishi's." Motoko stuttered from those words.

"Those barbarians! They should be put to death on sight!" she insulted.

"And I believe that is our job to do so." Motoko then looked at the boy, and gave a small smile at him; he too also returned a smile. But they friendly gestures were suddenly corrupted from a noise heard in a far corner. They quickly turned their heads to the closed opening of the door. They grasped hold of their sword handles and slowly unsheathed their rapiers in order to kill their enemies; they didn't give in to the creeping noise that obscured them. They still waited for their rival to show himself.

But then out from the tattered cloth that covered the slide door panes; came in shooting out tears of daggers into Motoko's direction.

"Get back!" shouted to man as he pushed her to the wall for her safety. The adversary finally showed himself to the boy, they charged at each other with their blades clashing between themselves. Motoko grew a bit scared and weary of the incident that was happening in front of her. But then she witnessed the brute slashing the brave boy's throat as he collapsed to the floor.

"No!" she panicked, but she unleashed her sword and anger and broke the brute's force with the sword and penetrated him in the stomach. She pushed him aside to let him die and slammed the slide open to thrash herself out of.

"Come on you bastards!! Show me what you're made of!" she bellowed to the air. Then this group of Emishi warriors came jumping out from the bushes. She clutched onto her handle and sliced the first man she sees in half; letting the blood slide onto the ground. Her power and force had become too unwilling to control; the men became chopped down like fresh wheat. But one man took his fist and collided into her left cheekbone as she stumbled. Yet she managed to stay on her two feet. She crouched down a little and strode into his chest and used her energy to push him to a tree, and with his neck free; she stabbed it with the point of her blade and gave him a fiery fear that also made him scared to death. As she took the blade out, the blood rained down onto her pure white robe; making her look and feel tainted and street-like.

"Anyone else?!" she bellowed again. But then she looked onto her side and saw a tall elegant woman, with her dark bluish black hair tied up with a sword in her hand.

"Mother!" she gasped. But then an explosion of fire burst out from the trees with arrows of flames lashed down on them. Motoko hid under some rocks but lost sight of her mother, yet she still grasped hold of the sword as her defense. She caught a glimpse of her mother again; she stood calm and tranquil and look upon her daughter.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to her.

"What? I don't understand?" Motoko whispered back, but the glimpse of her Mother disappeared.

"No! Mother!" She rose from the ground and ran to her. But then she saw a man coughing out smoke from his lungs, and he looked at her with soot covering her face.

"Motoko?"

"Father!" she shouted back. Suddenly another explosion occurred in their village, and took her by surprise. The potential energy from the fire made Motoko loose hold of her sword. She tried to grab it back, but it was already far out her reach. The blade was pointing at her father, with his back turned to the bark of a tree; he was unaware of the sword that was going to impale him in that moment. He turned…but it was too late. The blade had already stifled him down.

"No…" Motoko whimpered. The remaining enemies fled as they saw what has already been done.

"No…I didn't mean to…" she started to cry.

"…FATHER!!" she violently screamed out.

_Motoko…Motoko… _

Another voice transpired into her head.

_Motoko…_Motoko!

She started to shake from the thrust someone was giving her. She started to panic and choke in the water. She also felt the hands of a stranger gripping her she shoulders and shoving it back and forth. She then raised her hand out from the water and viciously slapped him in the face. He spat out little droplet of blood from his mouth as the force struck him unexpectedly. He knelt down into the shallow end of the pool as Motoko rose out from the water and gasped for air. Her eyes became small and stunned, her breath pace took in deep amounts of atmosphere, and her body stiffened from the scare he just had.

The man with a small tinge of blood on his lips; turned out be Sasuke.

"You! What the fuck were you trying to do to me?!" she screeched at him.

"Oh, so should have let you drown in your nap then?" he questioned her calmly. Motoko looked at him for a few moments, but then realized that she was naked in front of him.

"Just get out of here!" she shouted at him with a small blush on her cheeks.

"Don't worry; I wasn't too aroused by your sight." He cheekily alleged to her as he walked off in the opposite direction.

"The pert!" she thought to herself as she rose her wet body from the springs and dried herself from the quite intense heat from the sun.

"Damn that _Kira!_ Why must he interrogate me? He's like an infest sometimes; lurking up on you unexpectedly. But on the other hand, he can be unusually…nice. Like when he just saved me from drowning, if he was really evil, he would have just left me to die. And that incident last night; what was that all about? Coming that close to me, clutching my hands, it was as if…no…no way! I'm trying to kill him! There's no way he would the slightest sense of infatuation of me. But…I have to admit…I liked it. I liked the way he pressed himself against me, trapping me behind my back, letting his hands exchange our bodily pulses with each other…what am I thinking?! What such adultery, how could I even think of HIM with ME? Never mind; I've got other things to worry about." She quit thinking and enrobed herself back into her scarlet kimono and brushed her half-dried hair to one side, and made her way back to the house.


	11. Miss

**Miss **

It was late in the night; it had been a long day. Most of the people in the house were asleep; Sasuke and Motoko in different rooms, Kaya in another, Ashitaka found in a spare, but San wasn't found. Ashitaka couldn't sleep, but lay peacefully on his flat bed on the ground with animal cloth keeping him warm. Yet he was too hot to stay in his bed, he'd undressed himself from his cobalt kimono and lay on his side. He was still worried about San; about how she can take the damage of her lost wolf family. Just wondered.

Suddenly he heard footsteps coming his way, so he quickly shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep. The footsteps were slow and quiet loud, but didn't bother him. They then started to approach to him, he could already feel the sense of someone coming near him, but he still kept his eyes shut. The footsteps were clearly right in front of his body, and then the sound of another collapsed near him. He suddenly opened his eyes; it was San again.

She rested near him all placid and tranquil, with her dress quite ragged; with the slings that held her dress flopped down onto her left arm, the end of the dress was dragged up to her thighs, revealing her snow white running legs. Ashitaka started to flush into a pink blossom color as he looked up from her feet, he carried on seeing her flat torso up to her breasts, and where also from the top of the dress unveiled her cleavage; that was when he really started to flourish. He immediately looked away from her breasts and looked at her beautiful face.

"She really is beautiful; ever since I first saw her. I don't care what other people say about her; she is the most gorgeous and strongest girl I have met. I just want to hold her close to and kiss, wrap my arms around her and embrace her within me, and then I could show her my true feelings for her." He thought to herself.

"But…she hates humans; and she has a strong will against them. San knows that even though she accepts me; she will still despise me for being who I am. And if I just blurt everything I want to say to her; I will lose her." He then sighed to himself. But then he slowly raised his right arm around her waist and pulled himself towards San a little more closely. "But what if…what if I'll only give a glimpse; just a little spark to make her think about me? No…that's crazy what must I be thinking? _Baka _Ashitaka."

But then San drew herself closer to Ashitaka as well, which lead to her breasts touching his chest. Ashitaka quivered a little in a timid manner.

"Well…" he thought to himself once more. "…just one kiss…" so he then gradually lifted his head closer to San's, as his eyes drew down to her lips. He must have been in a huge daze. He was nearly lip to lip with her, but then San moaned out in her sleep.

"…_tasukete..."_

"Help me." –

Ashitaka stopped in his tracks as he listened to those words.

"…_tasukete…tasukete…tasukete…" _the words just kept being repeated with each breath she exhaled. Ashitaka didn't resume his task of kissing her; because she wasn't in the right state for it at the moment. So he gently got up and left San to sleep in his bed. He opened the slide door and looked down at San for once last time; before he walked into a different room to sleep in.


	12. Foreshadow

**Foreshadow **

"I hope I can still move properly." Ashitaka spoke to himself as he unveiled the wound that Sasuke had marked on him, but the scar was hardly noticeable.

"Incredible! The scar was supposed to show but there's hardly a trace of it to be seen." He gasped with quite surprise. Then San crept up from behind him with a friendly gesture.

"Hi again." she calmly greeted him.

"Hi San" Ashitaka replied back. "I think…I need to know what's going on with the Samurai. I mean, why did they attack Irontown with so much force?" He questioned himself yet it also seemed like he was also questioning San too.

"I don' know. There is part of me that says that I'm glad that…Irontown…has come to destruction, but…there's another part of me that says that I should sympathize for the lives that have been lost."

"It's natural for you to feel like that; it's called…" Ashitaka paused for moment to try not to day the last word.

"What is it called?" San asked him once more, and then he turned his face to her.

"Human Nature." San breathed in quite a large f air into her lungs, and then exhaling out again; trying to suppress her anger to avoid conflict between her and Ashitaka.

_That's right; suppress me, bottle me up so you can try to shut me up. Idiot. _

San twitched her head a little to shut the voice out. It went away, eventually.

"I'm coming with you." She confirmed Ashitaka quite sternly.

"I don't see why not." He evenly replied back. San smiled a little then turned back to the face that made her quite strong and agitated.

As they walked into the broken gates of Irontown, they saw the horror that Motoko had to see. But there were no bodies found, it was an empty street. Filled with empty houses, empty gardens, and empty factories to work in.

"Where's everyone? There should be bodies everywhere." San questioned herself.

"They cremated them." Ashitaka answered.

"They?" San questioned once more.

"The Samurai who killed Eboshi." San gasped at what she heard.

"I've always wanted to kill Eboshi, and now she's dead; I should be happy. But I'm feeling some kind of ache inside now."

"That's guilt; it comes naturally too." He replied to another one of San's little confessions.

"You think so?"

"Yes, you're learning how humans feel. You're unique."

"I don't think I am." San spoke back melodramatically.

"Why would you think of that?" Ashitaka queried her as he placed his hand on her face and turned it to him. San eye's then grew small and blush again. Ashitaka just smiled at her with bless.

"I think you are." He reassured her.

Suddenly their little moment was then disrupted when they heard noises coming out from Eboshi's office.

"What are we going to do?" San started to panic.

'Hide!" Ashitaka gasped as he took hold of San's hand and hid inside a small, abandoned house. "Stay behind me, San." Ashitaka spoke firmly as he gently pushed her behind her. He looked out from a broken window, and waited for whoever was in the office, to come out. Then a bunch of Samurais came walking out passed the house, Ashitaka shuddered a little in reflex and obscured his hands around San's. Later on came the man subsequently called Keirtoro.

The man with unnatural blonde hair like the sun, with skin half pale and half tanned. He wore quite rich rags that covered his naked body. Along with him came some sort of soldier. Not a Samurai, because he looked too smart to be a rusted warrior, but some sort of special fighter. He wore black dressings and armor-plated arms and legs. And they him and Keirtoro were talking.

"Tell me more about this…girl…that you require." The man in black spoke.

"I believe that she may, no, I know that this girl is the one."

"The one sir?"

"I'm not definite for sure, but I got a strong feeling that she's one of the potentials."

"Potentials?"

"Yes, she, or another that will find can bring death and rebirth to our feet."

"And one more question sir; why do we need Asano?"

"You can't have the world to your hands with only a few of us now can you?"

The man in black spoke quite wickedly as he walked off with the rest of the other Samurai, whilst the other man walked in the other direction.

Ashitaka was quite puzzled from the paragraph Keirtoro had just stated.

"Potentials?" he questioned himself.

"What does that mean?" San questioned him too.

"I don't know, but we have to find out." He replied back to her. "Death and rebirth? Of what?" He thought to himself. Then both of them poked their heads around the broken window to check if the mysterious men had left. They checked, and neither of them was seen. So then they slowly rose out from the house, and crept slowly back to the entrance. Ashitaka was still grasping hold of San's hand and walked backwards to check that if any others were coming.

Suddenly, Ashitaka felt the grasp of a rough hand on his shoulder.

"Hey!" Shouted the Samurai from behind them, they both suddenly turned their heads to them.

"We come here with no harm." Ashitaka assured him.

"I don't care, we don't tolerate intruders." He then cocked out a small pistol and placed it close to Ashitaka's head.

"Get ready to be obliterated!" But Ashitaka shoved the gun to one side, thrashed the samurai out of the way, and started to run with San still clutched onto his hand.

"Stop them!" The Samurai bellowed with rage and panic. The two were then chased by a fairly numbered amount of four to five Japanese soldiers.

"Hurry San!" Ashitaka gasped for breath as the tension of being caught brought near to him and the Wolf princess. They rushed pass houses and dashed through nearly ever path in that maze of a town. The Samurais had split up to hunt down these two adventurers; they seem to think of them as a token to torture or a brothel girl to rape. Ashitaka and San had reached their climax as they then found themselves in front of the broken gate, but then their fortune faltered when the soldiers had blocked their way out. They both shuddered and pivoted into the other direction, yet there were more soldiers obscuring them. They had no other route but to falter back to the wall of the same broken house they were hiding in. Ashitaka immediately pressed San onto the wall behind and shielded her with his arms.

"Who are they, trespassers?" growled one of the five soldiers.

"He's one I've never seen before?" grumble another. Then another walked closer to him; Ashitaka pressed his hands harder to the wall that surrounded San.

"He must be eastern." Said the one that walked up to him.

"How do you know that?" question one of the other Samurais. The closest one then gripped his fingers onto Ashitaka's chin and lifted his face up.

"Can't you see he has darker skin than us, and those grey eyes are quite rare here?" Ashitaka just gave the most firmest of looks to him, but he tried to stay as subtle as possible. San tried to let loose her dagger but was pressed too close to the wall.

"So, who's the girl then?" Asked yet another soldier. Ashitaka brought his body closer to San in order to protect her from the human demons she despises.

"Remove yourself, stranger!" snarled the one close to him.

"No." Ashitaka defiantly confirmed him.

"So, you would risk your life for a girl? Let's settle a deal; we'll battle each other for your little girlfriend shall we? Well…" He then grabbed Ashitaka by the collars of his kimono. "…Let's get busy!"

"Halt!" Shouted the voice of a young girl. Ashitaka looked up and recognized the face of aid.

"Motoko!" The Samurais then turned to her.

"Ah, you two know each other then? Well now, we've got ourselves some treat now boys!" They chuckled evilly as they saw the beauty on her face and body.

"If you want to do what you are thinking, then you've got another thing coming." Motoko sternly validated them.

"You, stop us?" the chuckle then turned into heaps of hideous laughter. "And how the hell do you think you can stop us then?" the Samurai questioned her.

She then smiled with quite malicious lips and spoke.

"Guns." She then drew out her magic revolvers and speared out bullets with the force of a thousand arrows.

"Shit! She must be one of those hunters!" they all shouted with panicked. One the Samurais was already shot dead through the head from the first bullet that was fired. The Samurais were out of San and Ashitaka's way when they then breached from the area they were secluded in.

Motoko was still firing shotgun shells through the armor into the flesh of Samurais.

"You bitch!" one of the surviving barked at her, but she brought up one of her guns and whacked him across his face that made him collapse unconscious.

She then shoved the guns back into her pockets and smacked one of the other samurais to blackness with one of her powerful fists. Ashitaka then rose out from on of the corners of the house and sprinted to Motoko.

"Motoko!" he carried on shouting.

"Can I have some help here, please?!" she sarcastically asked as she started to struggle to wind the Samurais down. Ashitaka then felt the footsteps of one of the remaining soldiers elevate his scimitar.

"Let's bring the deal on!" he spat behind him, but the young prince was too quick and swift for his abilities, from when the soldier then suffered from the brute kick of the princes foot as it collided into his torso. The beaten soldier crashed into the abandoned house and broke all bounds of the weakened wood. Ashitaka then clenched his fists as San let loose her dagger. But then she saw the dark face of the man Keirtoro. He stared at her deeply, and San fell into his hypnotism.

_He's the one that can set me free. Come on San! Let me out! _

"No!" She shouted at herself, and then felt the footsteps of yet another samurai. But before he could even touch her; she gripped onto her dagger and slit his arteries open; letting the blood to flow out. She felt weird at that point; almost as if she knew that was coming to her. She sense another coming, she clutched her handle as the tension drew near to her. She then tried to take a swipe from the figure behind her, but her wrist were then slapped onto his hand; the hand that turned out to be of another familiar kind.

"You!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I came with Ashitaka."

"Right."


	13. Callous

**Callous **

The man then ran out into the open battlefield with Ashitaka and Motoko.

"The _koroshiya_! I thought he would be long gone." Keirtoro wondered to himself.

"Anyway, I want to see him in action." He then smirked at himself. As Ashitaka tried to defend himself and the others from the Samurai, he noticed the figure coming by.

"Sasuke!" He gasped.

"I knew you would be here." The Samurais then started to crowd round the strange creature that had just arrived.

"Now who is he?" one asked.

"Don't you mean what is he?" another scoffed. Sasuke then felt a tinge of anger when he heard those words; he then turned to the malicious bunch.

"He must be a demon!" one then turned to panic.

"Yes, he can't be human! He's just too ugly!"

"Ugly?" Sasuke whispered to them. "Are you saying that my superficial appearance with give you the advantage to be prejudice over me?"

"Well…" but before one of them managed to finish his sentence, Sasuke obliterated him by breaking his delicate neck with the side of his rough hand. The broken soldier then fell to the ground.

"Come on! Show us what you are made of!" Keirtoro passively whispered to Sasuke.

"You monster!" screeched one of the remaining three.

"I've always thought that you are the monsters on this earth." Sasuke eerily spoke back. Then one of them drew out his gun.

"Stay back! Stay back or-

"Or what? You will shoot me?" Sasuke quietly chuckled at him. The Samurai then shot a fire at his head that spat out blood and made him crash to the floor.

"SASUKE!!" Ashitaka screamed at him. Motoko too became aware of the situation.

"Oh no! What have they done?" she then started to panic too.

"Now…" the Samurai with the gun laughed as he walked up to Ashitaka.

"…Where were we?" he guffawed with another who was close to him. One of them was still standing over the dead-like body of Sasuke. San then ran down from her hiding cave and saw him lying dead on the floor. She too started to vex in terror. Ashitaka then had a gun pointing under his chin, the Samurai then squeezed the trigger, but blood came out from in front of Ashitaka. Thankfully he didn't squeezed it hard enough to release the bullet, but she the trace of the blood that lead up to one of the remaining three soldiers.

The soldier had his arms detached from his body, with the red-tinted color sprayed all over his black armor. The other two gasped with revulsion. The arm-less man turned to them.

"Help me-

Before he could finish his sentence a hole was then driven though him, and his head became desecrated and flew off, thus leaving the liquid to spew and splatter all over their faces.

The façade of Ashitaka became pale and sickened from the very sight. But what even was more disturbing; was the rise of the dead body of Sasuke as it rose to its feet. Ashitaka grew weak and hurled within his stomach, as he couldn't and wouldn't believe was he was seeing.

The eyes of Sasuke awakened with the power of fear and repulsion. They were bright blue and the middle was cat like. His midnight fringe was covering one of them, with the shadow overcrowding his face.

The Samurai immediately shoved Ashitaka to one side and started to fire spears of bullets at him. Yet with all the countless pellets he fired, they all bounced off within twenty centimeters of Sasuke's reach. Suddenly after a number of bullets that have been detonated, the dead body of a Samurai was then slashed down into two, and Sasuke began to walk forward.

"What the hell are you?!" the Samurai shrieked in fright as he still discharged the bullets at Sasuke, but every single pellet still bounced off the air that surrounded him.

"Sasuke?" Ashitaka whimpered silently. But as Sasuke walked pass him without any notice, he was then thrown back by this invisible physical force that made him fling to one side. Without any regards for throwing him aside; Sasuke carried on walking toward the Samurai he wants to eradicate. But then he stopped for a moment, and then unleashed what seems to be violet, lucid, and extremely lethal. These, things, too the shape and form of snakes, and grew dark and thirsty for blood.

"The snakes of hate." Motoko whispered to herself as she saw the snakes unwind from Sasuke's back. But she was then brought to a halt when one f the last two Samurais had a small rapier pressed to her throat.

"Stop or I'll kill her!" he cowardly shouted out. Sasuke immediately looked at him and the soldier's body burst out heaps of crimson fluid all over Motoko, making her tainted and splattered in red stains. Suddenly a gunshot was fired and a bullet went pass his right cheekbone; it made a slit on it that bled quite deeply. Sasuke turned his head to the last remaining Samurai. Then some pieces of rock and broken pieces of steel started to afloat, they started to levitate calmly and smoothly, until thrown viciously toward the last soldier. Luckily the soldier managed to miss the steel and rocks and hi away behind the wall of a house.

"Don't throw shit at me." He scoffed passively. "Wait a minute, I remember him now! He can only make a range of three meters." He whispered to himself. He then laid his head on the wall as Sasuke's footsteps pattered amongst the puddles of blood on the ground. Then as he was walking up closer to the Samurai, there was a gun found in front of him. Then the soldier rose from his feet and aimed his gun at Sasuke.

"Let's bring it on hell spawn!" he laughed at him. But then he gasped in terror as he sees Sasuke too, with a gun in his hand pointing at him. "That's a bit unfair isn't it?" he said politely at him, but Sasuke fired the gun anyway; piercing the black armor of the Samurai's and hitting his stomach that made him collapse to the floor.

"Dammit! Now what am I going to do?" he panicked ferociously, then he sees the gun centimeters away from his fingertips. "The gun!" he suddenly shouted with glee. But then his wrists were crushed by the weight of Sasuke's foot pressing down on it, along with another pressing down on his arm. The Samurai looked at the locks that held him down, and then looked up at the chilling face of Sasuke.

"Are we having fun?" he cynically asked him in a low voice. The Samurai then gritted his teeth and angered his eyes.

"Die you bastard!" he cursed at him. But then his left leg has been ripped off from Sasuke's translucent appendages. The Samurai squealed his pain, but Sasuke was bound to show no emotion what so ever.

"How…" the soldier withered "…How dare you d-do that to my leg!" he choked at him. And then his last leg had suddenly been cleaved off his pelvis; leaving him legless. The Samurai then set off a violent siren into the air. "D-Damn you! Damn you freak!" Sasuke widened his eyes from those words, and then had a small flash of memory from the quote that had just been said.

"_You're a freak! You know that right?! _

"I'm…" Sasuke started to scold. "I'm…" the soldier then started to squirm.

"Don't do it Sasuke!" Motoko pleaded to him

"I'm tired of people calling me a FUCKING FREAK!!" he then raised his right fist and pummeled the soldiers face, causing it to burst out. Ashitaka saw the blood disintegrated and then squeezed his stomach to stop him from heave.

"No!" Motoko saddened as she placed her hands onto her face to cover the sight of gore from her eyes. As Sasuke lifted his bloody fist from the face, he felt that wasn't enough. He felt an addiction brewing up inside him, as if the taste of killing can no longer satisfied his thirst for hostility by just once hit. He wanted more, and more, and more. So he raised his fist and thrust it down again, and then his snakes unpinned themselves again and tore up the armor, and aggressively jabbed them into his insides; tearing up the pale skin and ripped open the muscles that were covered by this peachy tissue. The melted scarlet juice flowed down into streams as they reach up to Ashitaka. San peered round the house and unfortunately noticed to massacre of the Samurai. She saw the remains scattered around the body. She saw Sasuke slash the pelt into slices with tiger-like ferocity. Her face turned pale and weak, her eyes grew small and felt acid down the back of her throat. She bent down a little and embraced her stomach, and before you know it, she began to vomit violently.

"San!" Ashitaka panicked as he ran to her to help her stop the vile retch that came out from her mouth. She continued heaving and heaving but she couldn't stop. The gore of it converted its energy into a poison that rejected her body and that it needed to come out.

"San, you must stop. It will make you ill."

"I'm already ill." She choked and resumed her gag. She nearly fell to the floor but Ashitaka managed to save her from caving in by clutching her waist. He then brought her back up and laid her weight onto himself.

Sasuke then rose to his feet and looked at the mess he created. He then turned to the three scared humans.

"Leave me!" he growled. San whimpered and tried run out, but Ashitaka slowly brought her out to the gate, leaving Motoko to stare at him. "I said leave!" he snarled at her, and eventually she obeyed his orders. He then turned to Keirtoro who hid in the shadows, yet he didn't threw himself onto top of him, but he just gave him a death stare and made his way out, with Keirtoro smiling at him venomously.

"Very good _koroshiya. _Very Good."


	14. His Reason

**His Reason**

The day was still young, but the young warriors were already exhausted. San had finally given up the need to vomit and was left with a dry throat, Motoko and Ashitaka panted and heaved in air down into their lungs. He then turned to Motoko, and she stared back.

"San, I want to speak with Motoko alone." San immediately obeyed his command and ran around the house gasping for air. Motoko turned worried at what will Ashitaka will forcefully investigate on her. He then walked up to her with a quickened pace, she backed up close to the wall as Ashitaka surrounded her.

"Is there something that you're not telling me Motoko?" he firmly asked her with quite a cold tone.

"I know nothing."

"Don't lie to me!" he yelled at her. "No one can do that to another human without demon force! What do you know of Sasuke?!" he suddenly turned sadistic in his voice.

"He caught the demon curse, that's what. And he's on a killing spree because of it. And that's why I'm tracking down; to kill him to save others. The same curse you once had."

"What?" Ashitaka had gone pale and sick in his tone of voice. Then Motoko shoved him up against the wall; gripping onto him tightly and then pulled out his right arm. She then brought out one of her daggers. "No!" he pleaded, but she tore up the navy blue sleeve that hid away the scar on his hand.

"Don't think I didn't saw it when I bandaged you up from your little scrap against Sasuke! That's why I'm not taking any chances." She then drew out her pistol and aimed at Ashitaka's head.

"Motoko, what are you doing?!"

"When Sasuke had the curse, the virus turned him immortal and unstable so I can't kill him with a single shot. Now I finally confronted you, I best kill you to save me any hassle in the future." Motoko's eyes turned stale and vivid as she drew the gun closer to Ashitaka's forehead.

"But I am rid of it!"

"You may think so, but there are countless cases of people like you turning into homunculi like Sasuke. Once you caught it, it can't be taken away; no matter what, the virus still lingers through your veins. It can take form on any random hour, that's why I'm saying I'm not taking any chances." Ashitaka then looked at Motoko deeply as if he was trying to get through to her.

"People are different Motoko. You can't judge me on that."

"Maybe not, but I can judge on you Emishi's." His eye pupils grew small and his skin turned white. "I know who you are; olive brown skin, grey eyes, eastern. Ring any sirens?"

"Motoko, are now discriminating me on what tribe I came from?"

"Yes; you people killed mine and my father. Therefore you must die!"

Suddenly, from the behind, San pushed Motoko aside; knocking the gun out from her hand and held onto her wrists.

"Run Ashitaka! Find Sasuke!" she shouted out to him.

"Right!" He then began to run back to Irontown with his heavy feet.

"Don't take my retribution away from me!" San then raised her fist and firmly punched Motoko across the face, which then made her fall down onto the floor unconscious. Drips of blood trickled a little onto her chin from the cut on her lower lip that was made.

"I've always wanted to do that." San quietly chuckled.

Ashitaka ran through the forest that was restored by the sacrifice of the Forest Spirit. He kept running through pathways and then began to hesitate.

"Where am I? I think I'm lost." He whispered to himself. He started to look around vividly and worryingly. Sweat trickled down the side of his head. Heart rate pulsed faster and faster with every thump. His Eyes started to quiver to the horror of something trapping inside this jungle prison. He started to slowly take small steps backwards; he turned his body, and saw the ghostly image of Sasuke. He jerked back and nearly choked on the last breath he just took in. He then stood up straight and looked at Sasuke directly in the eye as he too stared back at Ashitaka.

"You want to know what happened, don't you?" he asked Ashitaka.

"Yes." He spoke after a short pause. Sasuke then slowly walked away from him at a short pace, and at about three meters he stopped. A long hiatus filled the thrilling scene.

"It happened three years ago." Sasuke finally began, and then turned to Ashitaka. "I lived in a village that also inhabited near demon territory. Some children got caught in a different forest. I tried to ware the beast off, but…I acted too soon." He took another pause and began speaking again. "Few people managed to survive the curse. But died shortly after. So others then wanted to go under the knife; take out the virus. But humans shouldn't tamper with what they can't handle."

"And that's what happened to you?" Ashitaka asked.

"No. I thought that people turned after the curse was lifted off them. I turned to surgery; to take away the poison. But they lied to me. They said that they were going to fix me. But they wanted to use me for other purposes; like a test rat. But I will not be treated that way!"

Another pause echoed the air.

"Motoko lied to me."

"No. She only said what she thought. She was deceived too. Such a strong woman but too blind to see what's underneath it all. I sometimes wish…that I can love her. And that she will love me in return."

"You can do that still!" Sasuke then ran towards Ashitaka, pushed him against the bark of a tree and gripped onto his collars.

"Are you just too damn hard to teach?! Not only did those lying bastards lied to me; they changed by whole life; changed my personality! They turned me into this hideous monster that I am now! And the one inside me adores taking control over me! Can't you see?! I can't be nice! Not for one bit! You would be dead by now if Motoko hadn't found me!"

"But that wasn't meant to happen. You said it yourself back before." Ashitaka counter argued back.

"Even if I didn't have my powers, I still would have defeated you." Ashitaka then scoffed and pushed Sasuke back in order for him to let go.

"How dare you be so egotistical! I am in your league and I can take you on any day!"

"What about today? Right now? I'll show you that I can beat you, without my other forces."

"Fine." Ashitaka harshly replied. Then raindrops started to sear down from the sky like an army of broken glass plummeting from up above.

Ashitaka and Sasuke were then found in an open area near a lake. The setting was grey and blurry, and the cloud merged in together as they shower down shattered fragments of mirror down onto earth. Then rain dampened the two men's bodies as Ashitaka stood with his blue kimono off and bare chest in the rain, and Sasuke with his grey kimono off too, revealing a black, sleeveless tight shirt with a turtle neck on. Moments later they walked up to each other with rain beating down on their skins. They then stopped at a close distance.

"Are you ready?" Sasuke coldly asked.

"Yes." Ashitaka boldly replied.

Suddenly Sasuke kicked over a small puddle of water and raised the water into Ashitaka's face, causing him to jitter and step back. Ashitaka blocked the water out from his eyes, but quite failed to see the fist that came into his face. He crumpled down onto the floor with the mud and water splattering everywhere. Sasuke smiled a little, but turned stern when saw Ashitaka rise up again with a dirty look on his face. Sasuke then raised his fists and clenched them tightly, as Ashitaka gritted his teeth and started to charge into him. He ascended his fist and collided it into Sasuke, but was then block. He then aimed for another shot, but the unnatural Sasuke was too quick to hit. But so was Ashitaka; he too was too hard to hit. With his martial background he was experienced as Sasuke. Sasuke then tried to hit Ashitaka but then the prince pushed away his arm and managed to smack him across the face. Drops of blood spat out from Sasuke's mouth as he trembled a little. Ashitaka tried to go for another one but his arm was then seized into Sasuke's hands as he was then lifted from the ground and flipped onto the ground. The smack on his back made him choke a little. But Ashitaka rolled himself back up and back flipped away from Sasuke.

"How can you say that you're in my league and you then back away from me?" Sasuke criticized at Ashitaka.

"Sometimes in order to back down you rise up to the top." Sasuke scolded at Ashitaka's answers and charged into him. He then made his fists turn harder to punch and stiffer to block. Ashitaka started to hesitate a little, and was then kneed in the torso and shoved back. He grunted as he pressed down on his stomach. Then he turned angry, like the fury inside was about to break out, the monster of odium started to take control of Ashitaka's body, and he let it took control over him. Ashitaka then attacked Sasuke with his pulsing fists and tried to maneuver his ever block Sasuke had against him. He tried to kick him back but that was easily blocked. But the he managed to punch him in the stomach that made him cringe, and then had the chance to hit yet again in the face. Sasuke turned weak and wounded, but Ashitaka wasn't finished however. He clutched onto his shirt but then Sasuke broke free from his grasp and grappled his throat. Ashitaka started to suffocate a little as he was pushed backwards by Sasuke's force. But then as Ashitaka was being pushed back, he smacked Sasuke's arms away from him that made him let go of Ashitaka. And then Ashitaka gripped onto his throat and started to squeeze a little.

"How does it feel like? Now you're the one getting choked?!" Ashitaka angrily questioned Sasuke as he punched him once more across him face and slammed him down onto the ground.

Sasuke couldn't move, he felt like all of his bones and tendons were broken. His cheeks were red and bruised as blood trickled down from his forehead. The rain still pattered down pitifully as Ashitaka bent down to look down on the face of the defeated Sasuke. He saw the blood run into the water surrounding him, and Sasuke breathing slow and heavily for air to regain his strength. He then looked at him with guilt and shame.

"I'm sorry Sasuke. But it's the only you can see me." He quietly apologized at Sasuke as the rain still trickled down on their skins. He then raised Sasuke's body and carried it back to the house. As he drew open the slide he walked into a dark room where he could lie Sasuke down. He then placed on a laid down blanket and lit a lamp with fire. He saw the damage he did to Sasuke, but it wasn't severe. It was just enough to take him out. Ashitaka then took hold of Sasuke's kimono and placed it onto his upper body, which will help keep him dry and warm for the night. He then rose back up and look one last look at the unconscious Sasuke. He turned away from him where he saw San standing a meter away from him.

"You don't have to worry about Motoko; I locked her in the other house." Ashitaka exhaled out with small relief as he didn't want to deal with Motoko at the moment. "Can we really trust them Ashitaka?" He then looked at San in a strange way and then walked up to her.

"They're not the ones I worried about." He then walked off with San taking a glance at Sasuke, and then leaving the room with the slide shut.


	15. Sasuke's Silent Melancholy

**Sasuke's Silent Melancholy **

As dusk grew into the day, the rain finally stopped falling. Sasuke was still in the black room unconscious; dreaming of memories that tormented him with images of his disturbing experiences.

"_Hey! There's that freak!" _

"_I can be finally rid of this thing Kurama." _

"_No we will keep going!" _

"_They lied! They lied to me!" _

"_Who would love you now Sasuke?" _

"_I will never do it with you!" _

"_Who knows I can catch something from you?" _

"_Are you still my friend Kurama?" _

"_How could you turn me away like this?" _

"_I…I-I killed him! I killed my friend!!" _

"_Don't runaway from me Sasuke!" _

"_Wait dammit!" _

"_I…can get there myself." _

"_So you saw me then?"_

"_That's right; stay away from me and you won't get hurt."_

"_How did you get that scar?" _

"_That's none of your business."_

"_For once I was gonna let you slide…but you just wouldn't listen." _

"_You're just a repressed nuisance."_

"_You must be a prince."_

"_Wrong deduction!"_

"_You don't scare me! I am strong enough to fight you!"_

"_I'm not the type who gives up easily." _

"_I'm stronger than you'll ever be." _

"_Hurts now, don't it?" _

"_NO! That's not meant to happen!"_

"_Don't worry; your end will be quick, like all the other bastards who tried to fuck with me." _

"_Your times up Sasuke!" _

"_I'm not dead yet." _

"_Next time…hunter." _

"_What's happening to me?"_

"_I'm a God." _

"_You're lying!" _

"_Why do you think I look so much like you then?"_

"_I knew it! It's…it's you!"_

"_You're still trying to fight me, boy?_

"_What is it to you, human?"_

"_Please stop!" _

"_No more pain! No more!"_

"_This fight isn't over."_

"_Stop being the bad guy!!"_

"_Please stay! Don't go! Please!"_

"_No."_

"_Yes he will."_

"_Ashitaka what are you talking about?!"_

"_I have questions to ask him."_

"_Ashitaka, don't do this!_

"_At least I've got to try."_

"_Motoko will kill him when she will see him."_

"_She's out to kill me."_

"_What the hell are you talking about?!"_

"_Why didn't he kill me?"_

"_He's a murderer for god sake!"_

"_How could you?"_

"_One strike and I cut his throat, you hear?"_

"_There's no need of that attitude with me; I'm not going to kill you." _

"…_It won't be long before they will find us…"_

"_I asked what you thought."_

"_You scare me Sasuke. Is that what you want to hear?"_

"_Am I just a nuisance?"_

"_Don't…waste…my time!"_

"…_this psychotic fuck family to going to get torn apart."_

"_Do you ever wonder why you feel like something's missing." _

"_Let's bring it on hell spawn!"_

"_Are we having fun?"_

"_Damn you freak!"_

"_Leave me!"_

"_Very good koroshiya. Very Good."_

"_You want to know what happened, don't you?"_

"_Humans shouldn't tamper with what they can't handle."_

"_Are you just too damn hard to teach?!"_

"_Can't you see?! I can't be nice! Not for one bit!"_

"_Even if I didn't have my powers, I still would have defeated you."_

"_I'll show you that I can beat you, without my other forces."_

"_The pert!"_

"_Ugly?" _

"_You monster!"_

"_Kira!" _

"_Koroshiya."_

"_Go back from where you came from YOU DAMN FREAK!"_

"_I'm tired of people calling me a FUCKING FREAK!!"_

"_AAAARRRRGGH!!" _

Sasuke was then suddenly woken up from the dream of hacking flashbacks with sweat dripping down his forehead, breathing quick and heavily, and with tension brewing in his head. He then shot out from the floor and twitched radically with the whispers still lingering in his mind.

"Stop. Stop it! Stop it now!" after a few moments the whispers finally disappeared. He then ran out of the house and into the forest. He swift passed the branches and twigs and sprinted like he was running away from something. He could feel the trees caving in around him, and the leaves trying to wrap their stems around him, and the darkness in the forest obscuring his escape.

"Leave me alone!" he violently yelled in his mind. "You have no business with me! So just let me be!" HE finally broke through the misty forest, and saw the clear sky of sunset colors, with the soft clouds hazing above. Sasuke breathed in a heave of fresh air into his lungs and exhaled out peacefully.

"The open world." He whispered to himself with tranquility. He then took placid steps onto the blades of jade grass and let the breeze flow through his body. Just walking alone across a field of emerald that lay ahead of him.

He then saw a smoke on the top of a hill nearby, he quickened his pace to see where it was coming from. The closer he got to the hill, he saw a young female figure near the small bonfire; it turned out to be someone he recognized.

"San." She was found kneeling down by the firelight, with a spear stabbed through the soils of the earth, along with a necklace of teeth wrapped around it. She then rose to her feet and smiled sadly at the fire.

"This for you, my Mother, my Brothers, my Family." She then paused and Sasuke stood at a quite far distance to where he wanted to find her purpose for being there. San then opened her mouth, and began to sing.

"_In the moonlight, I felt your heart,_

_Quiver like a bowstrings pulse._

_In the moons mere light, you looked at me,_

_Nobody knows your heart._

_When the sun is gone, I see you,_

_Beautiful and haunting, but cold. _

_Like the blade of a knife; so sharp, so sweet, _

_Nobody knows your heart._

_All of your sorrow, grief and pain,_

_Locked away in the forest of the night._

_Your sacred heart belongs to the world,_

_All the things that sigh in the dark._

_All the things that cry in the dark." _

Sasuke still stood quiet and tranquil, but poignant. His eyes started to water, and then a small tear dripped from his right eye. He gasped for a moment, and clutched onto the tear. He held it out from the palm of his hand and saw it. His lips started to quiver, his eye pupils grew short, and then more tears started to run down. Sasuke began to hide away his face with his hands, and started to cry intently. But San still carried on singing.

_"Within the night sky, you shone onto me,_

_You showed me the whole world. _

_But you have a heart of stone, _

_Nobody touched your heart._

_And when the dawn rises, you vanish,_

_You left no trace for me to adore._

_Yet you stole my empathy._

_Nobody loved your heart. _

_You kept your hate and fear, _

_Trapped in the woods of the moon. _

_You sold your soul to the wind. _

_All that's left is ache._

_All that's left is detest. _

_When I light up the stars, I will see you._

_When I light up the night, I will love you. _

_In the moonlight, I felt your heart,_

_Quiver like a bowstrings pulse._

_In the moons mere light, you looked at me,_

_Nobody knows your heart._

_When the sun is gone, I see you,_

_Beautiful and haunting, but cold. _

_Like the blade of a knife; so sharp, so sweet, _

_Nobody knows your heart._

_All of your sorrow, grief and pain,_

_Locked away in the forest of the night._

_Your sacred heart belongs to the world,_

_All the things that sigh in the dark._

_All the things that cry in the dark. _

_When I light up the stars, I will see you._

_When I light up the night, I will love you." _

- Little note: is where I created my own verses, nothing to do with the original song -

San then looked down from the hillside and saw Sasuke crying with guilt and disgrace. She could believe her eyes; a violent, hot-blooded man weeping with lament.

"Sasuke?" she whispered to him in a calm and curious tone, as she saw the young man wither in his depression.

They then laid their backs onto a huge boulder and watched the beautiful scenery set into the night. San continued to watch, but Sasuke was thinking about other things.

"I must say San, your song took my breath away." He confessed.

"It did?" Sasuke turned to San and nodded, and then turned away from her again.

"All my life…I lived in hatred. Most of its reason is to do with the curse I dealt with years ago. And some by those betrayers who were suppose to be my closest friends."

"The virus didn't spread naturally. Humans enhanced on it, and caused consequence on you and your whole life."

"You're a smart girl." He confessed again.

"I thought an operation would finally get me rid of the curse once and for all, but instead the disease infested inside me had been woken up again and took my human form. But I must say; this came also with a gift, which linked with the purpose of going through surgery."

"You're afraid of dying."

"Once. But now I finally got the chance of being immortal, it made me realize one thing: When you live forever it would seem like a great thing at first, but then you get bored with it, next you start to get annoyed with it, you suddenly feel the need to slit your wrists, but the bleeding won't kill you. You then start to crave a passion for hurting yourself, and then you become obsessed with the desire of suicide." San gasped at the words that Sasuke had just spoken, but he carried on with his hidden statement. "Ever since I've turned, people I knew started to see me with a different eye. They thought I was unclean, unnatural, ugly. I tried to repress those feelings at first. But then my best friend turned away from me too. So I did what I regret a long time, even now."

"You killed him." Sasuke too a deep sigh and resumed himself.

"At first I thought what I have done was a horrid and inhumane thing to do. But then I started to kill off more bullies. The thirst then became needier, and took control over my vicious cycle."

"Why can't you kill Motoko then?" San asked with curiosity.

"That I cannot answer." San then accepted that answer and looked at the sky again.

"Then when I met Ashitaka, I thought that he was just another weak human, but there is more to him than meets the eye."

"Ashitaka is a very strange human; he listens to both sides of this war."

"And that he chose you as his all." San then gasped and looked at Sasuke.

"But the question is have you chose him?" That was a question San needed to deal with alone. "Come now; it's getting late, and the others would be worried."

"Since when do you care." San asked in an unsympathetic tone.

"Since I first met you people." Sasuke then walked down not showing any true emotion again, as if he wanted to keep his inner feelings confidential between him and San. She then led on behind him as she followed him back to the house.

Ashitaka stood on top of the roof of the house, and looked out into the distant scenery of blurred colors and pink clouds that floated above his head.

"Why is it that today felt like it had been repeated before?" He asked himself. "Like this incident has happened before in my earlier life?" A breeze started to blow through the trees and dust; it then grew stronger and harder moments later. Then a silent howl started to charge behind Ashitaka, he turned around and saw the vicious wind rushing pass his body, then the howl came closer and closer to him. Ashitaka stepped back from his place, and walked backwards from the roof to move away from this soundless holler. The potential energy then dashed against his body and forced him to fall onto the ground. He grunted as the gravity pulled him down ad smacked him onto the floor.

"What was that?" he groaned, and then he saw Motoko looking down to him; with a sheathed sword in her hand along with his.

"I will not take no as an answer." Ashitaka rose back up and looked at the swords. "Your tribe killed my royal blood; now I shall kill yours."

"Motoko, I don't thin-

"Enough! We will see which one of us triumphs; whether you like it or not!"


	16. Tribal Rilvary

**Tribal Rivalry **

"Motoko, I am not going to fight you." Ashitaka replied in a firm tone.

"You are! You people ruined my life! If I knew your background in the first place, then I would have let you die in Irontown."

"But you didn't." He counter-argued back, Motoko kept silent for the moment. "I have been exiled from my village in order to live from the curse; I am dead to my family."

"So am I to mine; your kin is what killed my father with my mother's sword, I left my tribe to search for her. But now I've regretted it for all of my life. I should have stayed to take care of my people; my mother was a liar; and I have cut all bonds from her. Now I am left to avenge my father."

"And killing me would satisfy your thirst." Ashitaka asked quite coldly.

"An eye for an eye isn't it?" Motoko then unsheathed the sword and pointed it at Ashitaka. He looked at the blade and wondered.

"Why don't you use your mother's sword that you carry?"

"I can't bear the instrument that ended the life for my father; you don't deserve to die with royalty." Ashitaka then tasted a tinge of anger down his throat, and clenched his fist that carried his sword a little.

"Fine." He then unleashed his sword and clashed into Motoko's; causing a riff between the two of them. Motoko charged into him and her sword collided into Ashitaka, but he was too quick and skilled as the blade came into contact with the face of his steel. Every lash that passed, Ashitaka was always there to defend himself. Motoko then tried to make one big hack towards him but he quickly jumped back. She then suddenly somersaulted delicately in the air and slammed the blade onto Ashitaka's, as he rose the sword into the air as it clashed into hers and tried to withstand her weight, he then tried to tip her over but she soared above his head and landed on her feet like a striking feline. She pivoted her body to face Ashitaka and attacked him as she gracefully swiped her sword around like a silver twirling ribbon. Ashitaka pushed the sword away from his organs with his blade along with the force of his hand. He thought he made her miss, but the young prince was then fooled as the overseas princess kneed him in the stomach. He stuttered for a moment and cringed a little as he fell to the floor.

"You think just because I'm a woman, you're gonna catch me off guard lightly? It takes more than that to take me down." Ashitaka grunted as he rose himself back up; stabbing the sword into the ground as he regained his strength.

"Motoko, do you realize what you are saying to me?" He questioned her lightly.

"I'm saying don't treat me like a whelp!" she snarled back.

"You sound like a novice to me." He lowly spoke back. She then chuckled a little.

"Don't go making accusations if you can't beat me." She callously spoke in a quiet tone, as Ashitaka gave her a worried grin back. She then raised her sword towards him "Go ahead; take me. Right now…or whenever you want!" she inaudibly challenged him. Ashitaka then picked up his sword and gripped it tightly; they both stood in waiting for their opponents to draw the first move. They the charged into each other; extracting their blades and collided them into each other as they withdrew sparks from each other. Motoko took the first step back as a sign of slight hesitation, yet she still held out as Ashitaka slashed the blade of hers, as it scarred the rapier with knife lashes. She then took a heap and slammed the blade down onto Ashitaka's, forcing her strength onto him as he started to yield down a little. But the young prince wasn't the type of man who just gives up in a fight; instead he stole her potency and back fired it against her. The blade then loosened the grip from Motoko, as Ashitaka slapped the sword from her hand and skillfully tripped her up. Motoko trembled to the floor, with a rapier drawn close to her neck. The two fighters stood in silence for the moment, when then a small sound came from the air, the ringing then became more distinct, as the sword that Motoko once held, then fell into the hands of Ashitaka.

"You can insult me all you want; I won't kill you from prejudice." He clearly stated. Motoko started to shake a little, and then knelt down to the ground.

"I'm a failure." She whispered to herself. Ashitaka then felt concern for the defeated hunter, and then rose out his hand.

"Are you alrigh-?

"Leave me!" She then ran ff into the opposite house as she slapped away the hand. Ashitaka stared at her with confusion and then thought to himself about the last words he had just heard.

'"Failure?"


	17. The Failure that was Loved

**The Failure that was loved**

Motoko came running into the house half-crying. Her heart beats thumped faster and faster as she made herself feel ill. Suddenly another voice came into her head.

"You are a failure."

"Who's that?!" Motoko hurled back.

"Doesn't matter all that does is knowing what a mess you have left behind, such as the murder of your father." The area around her turned dark and eerie, with a coldness that ran down her pine.

"I didn't mean to kill my father! It was an accident!" Motoko cried out.

"So you say, yet the sin of murder still lingers in your veins."

"Please, don't do this to me!" She implored.

"The only way you can balance the deed is to take your own life; an eye for an eye, isn't it?" Motoko then gasped as she heard those words go through her ears.

"Are you saying I should kill myself?"

"It's only a suggestion, but it can save you from a lifetime of shame and embarrassment from the world." Motoko then ran outside into the dusk air; out into a corner where darkness surrounded her, and drew her fingers down her throat and started to choke. Piles of vomit spewed out on the floor, with hints of blood trickling down the side of her mouth as well.

"Suffering eases the guilt, did you say? Well…I must suffer then!" She then ran back into the house and drew out her daggers. She ripped open the cloths that covered her wrists and started to press the blade down onto her veins. She then sliced the wrists as blood dripped onto her kimono.

"Does it feel good?"

"Yes, yes it does." Motoko replied back to the dark voice. She then placed the blade onto another area on her wrists and opened up more holes as she went along. With every slash she took, she winced at first, but then sadly smiled as she thought that ending her life slowly and painfully would satisfy the debt of her father's death. She then looked over into the corner and saw the sword that took her father's life. She walked up to it at a mere distance and looked bluntly at it. The whispers of this dark cult then became more frequent in her head, as they overlap their words from one another.

"You know you want to end it."

"What the point of carrying on now?"

"Just do it."

"End it."

"You're useless."

"Do it."

"Go head, take it,"

"There's no one to love you now."

"DO IT!"

Motoko then finally gave in; she gripped hold of the dagger and held it to her throat, making the point of the blade to touch her bare skin. Tears poured down from her eyes as she swallowed herself in depression.

"I'm taking it!"

"Stop!" Another firm voice came into the house. Motoko turned round, and saw Sasuke looking at her frantically. He looked down to her bleeding wrists and saw her tainted face. "What are you doing?!" He walked up to her and clutched onto her wrists. Motoko then whined out in pain as she collapsed to the floor, with Sasuke still clinging onto her. "Is this how you want to end your life? In pain?!" he questioned her angrily.

"Let go of me!" Motoko pleaded.

"You didn't answer my question!"

"Let go of me! PLEASE!!" Sasuke then immediately let go of Motoko, leaving her to bleed heavily and cry her eyes out. But then as her face looked at the floor, with her hair covering it, a silence then spread across the room, and Sasuke began to worry.

"Motoko? Motoko wake up." He then knelt down to her level, brought her body upright, and saw her face unconscious and pale with great loss of blood.

"Motoko! Motoko wake up! Stay with me please!" The voices became a blur to Motoko as her vision started to darken as well, as it then finally went black.

There was a lit candle in a corner; the dusk had already grown into late of night. Motoko was found covered in a warm fur blanket, with her wrists covered in bandages, and the color of her peachy skin returned to her face. Her eyes woke up slowly to look up at the ceiling, and gradually looked to her side and saw Sasuke looking down on her.

"I could have lost you."

"Why do you care Sasuke?"

"Since I joined you humans." He then knelt down to her level. "Why did you try to commit suicide?"

"Because I'm worthless and not needed." Sasuke looked at her funnily.

"Now why you think of a stupid thing like that?"

"I lost a fight to Ashitaka in order to avenge my people."

"Ashitaka is a hard man to beat, why fight against him?"

"His people killed mine, which lead to my father's manslaughter."

"What about your mother?" Motoko took a long pause.

"She was a liar; she left me and my family to build another. And with me being alone; all I wanted to do is to run away, and realize that I can never get what I want." Sasuke then took in some sort of sympathy for Motoko. But then in a strange way; he then got closer to her and got up and carefully sat on her pelvis.

"What do you want Motoko?" he asked firmly, yet gently at the same time.

"To find love. Do you think that you could be the one?"

"I don't know if it's lust or not…but I really like you. That's why I couldn't kill you." Motoko started to breathe heavily, and let Sasuke embrace her wounded wrists as he brought his chest closer to her.

"I don't believe you." She whispered to him.

"It's true, if you need love why aren't you stopping me?" he whispered back as he brought his lips closer to hers. "Why won't you say…no?" he then touched her lips. Motoko felt the heat of the lips rushing through her mouth, her eyes started to gaze onto Sasuke's cool midnight hair that bounced off reflections of the moonlight. She felt, warm, feverish, and sensitive, her cheeks turned rosy red and her hair flared up a little from this vibe that she was receiving. As she let Sasuke take over her lips, she started to feel confusion from what was happening at that moment. She knew that she was being kissed by a person whom she was trying to kill for some time, which she wished for his death to arrive on his footsteps. On the other hand, she liked it. She liked the endorsing of Sasuke's body heat and soft kiss, no matter how rough the man was in character. And for the first time in her life she felt that she was intimately loved by another being, and more surprising was the one she least expected it to be.

So Motoko let the intimacy continue; she raised her wounded arms around Sasuke's neck and drew him closer to her body. Sasuke let go of Motoko touch for a sensuous breath.

"Is this what you want?" Sasuke hyperventilated sensitively.

"Yes." Motoko whispered back. They then resumed their sensational liaison between each other, as Sasuke slowly took over Motoko's body. He brushed his fingers through her hair and ran down her neck. He brought his lips down to her nape and pressed on them; letting his warm tongue lick leisurely across to her neck. His hands then stroked down from her chest until it reached one of her breasts. Sasuke paused for a moment and looked down upon it, as so did Motoko, they then looked at each dozily.

"I want you to take me Sasuke." She breathed to him. Then Sasuke let his tongue latch into her mouth as they exchange their fluids. He gently groped the breast, massaging it delicately as he could. Motoko then breathed out a quiet moan into this heated atmosphere from the sexual contact off Sasuke. He then drew down his hand onto her thigh and stroked it back and forth; Motoko then had the urge to touch him humidly, as she then run her hand down from Sasuke's back and onto his hip. And then, gently, she had then placed the hand lower below his hips. Sasuke gasped for a moment and looked down at her hand. He paused for a moment and then looked at Motoko.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this."

"What?" she gasped at him.

"Not now." He then rose off of her and straightened himself out. Motoko tried to get up, but was still too weak due too her lack of blood. "We can't do it. Not in your condition."

"I'm fine!" Motoko snapped back but then grunted due to the pain in her veins. "I'll see you in the morning." Sasuke then turned away from her and slowly walked up to the slide. Motoko then slowly rose up and quivered a little.

"So that's it? What was that all about before then? Just a little lust tour of me?!"

"No, what I said is true." Sasuke replied smoothly. "I'm enamored with you." He then walked out from the house into the midnight, leaving Motoko to quake emotionally and tearfully.


	18. Mixed Emotions

**Mixed Emotions**

The dawn awoken early again one morning, as Motoko's eyes drew open from the red sunlight glowing on her face; even though she had slept, she hadn't slept smoothly, or happily. She rose from her bed revealing to her the tinges of blood stained on her bandages.

"What have I done to myself?" She thought to herself, as the lesions on her wrists brought to her the memory of her attempted suicide. "I'm glad that Sasuke stopped me, but why did he leave me? Why didn't take me while he had the chance? Most men I know are perverted pigs who only think of sex, but Sasuke didn't sleep with me…maybe he's more of human than I know of. Ashitaka is a great man too; he's one of the noblest I've known."

"Motoko?" A deep male voice came from behind her; she turned around as she saw Ashitaka.

"I'm sorry…for my behavior yesterday. It was wrong and stupid of me to do so."

"No; you have nothing to apologize for. I came too rash onto you." Ashitaka apologized back. Motoko slowly walked up to him, secretly hiding her arms behind her back. She came up to Ashitaka at a close difference.

"I didn't mean to let my anger out on you; it's just that my monster wanted to get the best of me at that time."

"We all have a demon inside us." Motoko softly chuckled at Ashitaka as he did the same. Then he looked down at her arms as they were kept away from her front, and then he noticed the ripped cloth from her clothes, the wrapped up bandages, and the stains of blood.

"Motoko…" Ashitaka then gently grabbed both of her arms and brought them out, whilst Motoko was still too weak to take control over them. "…did you hurt yourself?" Motoko started to tremble and quiver. "Motoko what happened?" Ashitaka asked quite sternly. Her lips began to quake, and her heart pounced faster, until she couldn't take it anymore.

"When I ran away from you, I went inside the house, and I started to cut myself…" Ashitaka started to gasp from the words that came out from her mouth. "And before Sasuke rescued me, I nearly killed myself." There was a long pause in the house.

"Why? Why would you do that to yourself?"

"Because I'm a failure, that's why!" Ashitaka stepped back a little. "Ever since my past life, I have screwed up every battle I had against my enemies. And one that one battle against your tribe, I nearly had it, until I killed my father with my mother's sword! I was afraid my people would disown me, so I ran away instead! I've never won anything in life; absolutely nothing! Because…" she started to sob as she gasped in air. "…because I'm useless." She then swiveled away from Ashitaka and cried in ache. Ashitaka sighed and touched Motoko on the shoulder, and turned her back around.

"Now you listen to me Motoko; you are not useless, you are the strong girl with a pride of independence. If it wasn't for you, I would be dead from my last wound, San and I would have been captured by Samurais from Irontown, and all of us would be lost without you. I know your father would be proud of who are you are now." He stated to her, but she then let hang her head, and pressed it onto Ashitaka's chest, Ashitaka blushed a little, but then realized that needed some kind of comfort. Teardrops trickled from Motoko's eyes and bleached onto Ashitaka's blue kimono. He then slowly placed both of his hands onto her shoulders again and brought her body closer to him.

"It' alright Motoko." He then reassured Motoko.

But then suddenly outside, San was stood about three to four meters away from the house, and she was clenching her fists very tightly, along with her teeth gritting; she saw and misunderstood of Ashitaka's ease towards Motoko. Motoko brought her head up again, and saw the envious San looking at her maliciously, and then running away.

"Ashitaka, I think you should let go of me now." She pushed him aside.

"Why?" Ashitaka asked, until he too saw San escaping the misunderstood cupidity of them two. "Oh no." He exclaimed. "You don't mind if I leave you here?"

"Go after her; I'll be fine." Motoko replied, as then Ashitaka sprinted out of the house and jogged into the forest.

"Oh San please don't be mad at me." He thought to himself. He still jogged until he opened up into this scenery where there's the lake, and the Forest Spirit's island, along with the place where San's mother had died. The sun was orangey-red, and the sky was still purple. He then looked down to see the jade and emerald plants, with ruby flowers, and quartzes of sakura dancing in the air. As he observed the small yet beautiful landscape, he found his beautiful San walking away from him.

"San!" he exclaimed, but San quickened her pace a little faster. "San wait." He panted as he finally caught up with her; and then he pressed his hand onto her right shoulder. "San, its not-

But then San smacked away his hand from his touch.

"What the hell were you doing?!" She snapped at him.

"It's not what you thought."

"Are you sure about that?" she spoke cynically, as Ashitaka turned quite pale and shaken. "I'm leaving; I'm sick of living with human presences." She started to walk away from him again, but was then clutched and embraced tightly around Ashitaka's arm.

"You have to break away from me then."

"Let me go!" San snarled as she struggled to break free from Ashitaka's grasp. She tried wiggle her way off him, but the young prince was too strong to be broken free from. "Let…go!" she strained her voice she tried and she tried, but the wolf girl ran out of energy to release her anger. Ashitaka still held her close to his body, but had loosened the grip on her a little.

"I'm sorry you mistook my action; we are just friends; nothing more." San then looked down upon herself with her hands upon Ashitaka's arms. "I want to spend the day with you, together with me." San then gasped and slightly clenched her hands.

"Just the two of us?"

"Just the two of us." Ashitaka cooed to her. He then let go of San as she turned to him. Ashitaka then walked closer to her and went onto her side, as they then sauntered slowly and tranquilly along the grass.

They then find themselves walking along a beige bunch of laces of meadow across their path; it was nearly midday, and still the two opposite humans walked side by side, with a cerulean river streaming peacefully in an opposite direction.

"We never get time between ourselves once." San calmly commented.

"No, we haven't." Ashitaka replied.

"It feels good."

"It does?"

"Yeah." She replied. Then a small rumble came within her stomach, and so did come out from Ashitaka's.

"We haven't had any breakfast yet."

"Well what can we get then?" Ashitaka questioned as he looked around the golden meadow, and then seeing a bottle light blue river flowing near themselves. He walked up to the sound of the cool rushing water with San following behind, and then seeing through this lucent river, were a school of silver fish swimming along with the current.

"Shall we get some fish?"

"Fish sounds good." San answered back. Ashitaka then sat down by the river bank, took off his shoes and dipped his feet into the river, he saw a long stick, shaped like a spear, and rose it out from the water, he saw the slippery little aqua-creatures flow through the water gracefully, he then raised his stick and stroked it down on two fish caught in the middle. He smiled a little and brought the dead fishes upon the surface, and then turned around to San; where she had already built a small blaze among some woods.

"I thought you need fire." San said quite cheekily, but Ashitaka smiled back.

They then sat by the fire, watching the flames dance with the cool breeze and their breakfasts cooking.

"It should be ready now." Ashitaka confirmed as he picked up the stick carrying their dead but delicious fish. He broke the stick in half and passed one half carrying one fish to San, and the other he kept to himself. San then let her teeth dig into the crispy scales and chewed on the warm white insides.

"It's lovely." San commented sitting next to Ashitaka.

"I'm glad you enjoy it." He replied back, as they tucked into their strange, yet satisfactory breakfast.

"Do you remember me giving you pre-chewed meat." San questioned Ashitaka.

"I'm afraid so, you have to give it to me mouth-to-mouth and I cried." San chuckled as Ashitaka humorously answered her question.

"Why did you cry?" San then asked him in a firm but flexible tone.

"I don't know…I just did." Ashitaka sighed a little and then finished off his fish. San did the same but still kept that thought in her head. They then chucked the sticks to one side and put the fire out with some water from the river. They left the fire to die out a little and looked at the sky, and saw a grey mist coming up ahead.

"What's that?" San rose up. And then she saw a flutter of feathers swooping down to her, and saw a flock of graceful cranes dive down onto her.

"Birds!" She started to panic as the flock leaped pass her and Ashitaka's body, He backed down a little as then San accidentally fallen onto his chest, and when Ashitaka tried to save her from her fall, he accidentally touched her breast again, with San lingering her head over his shoulder.

San felt his contact; it was warm, smooth, pleasant. But she then started to flush in her cheeks with slight embarrassment. Ashitaka did the same as he kept looking at the sky, but he then manage to get San upright again.

"Are you alright San?"

"Yes, I'm fine thank you." He reassured her as she crossed her arms together. Her sight started to darken a little, as the sinister familiar child's voice came back to linger over her mind.

"_I bet he enjoyed that; having a good grope whilst he still can." _

"_He's not like that! Ashitaka is a respectable man!" _San argued back within her mind.

"_What's wrong with you? You use to kill humans on sight. You must have turned weak and defenseless." _

"_I am still strong! And I don't need you with me!" _

"_Really? Because I think I need to come back; to finish off what you couldn't the night you met him. Let me take his life. Let me cut his throat with his own sword!" _

"Shut up!"

"San what's wrong?" Ashitaka asked San worryingly, as she returned from her nightmarish liaison with the intruder.

"_Nani mo nai… _

nothing –

…I just feel hot under the sun." Ashitaka then looked around the meadow, and then saw the golden blanket of meadow merge into luscious green clouds of bushes, with a small clear blue waterfall, with a small lucid blue pool nearby.

"What about over there?" Ashitaka pointed out to this mysteriously mirage-like pool.

They soon reached over there, where there was also the shade of the boulders and bushes. San and Ashitaka both came into the pool with their feet bare and the bodies light.

"Wow! This water is amazingly cool!" San enlightened as the frosty fresh water ripples just above her ankles. She sifted her hair from her face as she dazzled at the wave of her reflection; showing off her painted wolf marks and her pinkish white face.

"San?" Ashitaka called out, she turned around and a handful of water got splashed on her face. "Did that cool you down?" Ashitaka chuckled a little as San looked at him quite confused and angrily, but she then turned her head forward and grew a saccharine smile on her face. She then turned back to Ashitaka and forcibly pushed Ashitaka full on that made him fall into the pool. He sat his wet body up with the water dripping off his face.

"Did that cool you down?" San asked with glee, and then laughed out with amusement and cheerfulness, with Ashitaka looking up at her with a quite irate look upon his face. He suddenly grabbed San by the ankles and pulled them towards him that made her collapse the water all covered and soaked as well as he was.

"That was not fair!" San growled at Ashitaka.

"We're both even now!" He growled back. They then rose back up and stared at each ferociously, and then they started to kick and splash water at each other. They both grunted heavily as they were both getting splattered by this light blue fluid. Then Ashitaka began to sprint towards San, and grabbed her wrists quite gently, he smiled at her and she couldn't help but laugh. She was then forced into the deeper end of the pool where the water came up to her abdomen. She then kicked heaps of water onto Ashitaka but he still carried on pushing her.

"Ashitaka!" San gasped as she felt the adrenaline rush of Ashitaka splashing her about. She then let loose of her wrists and smacked some water onto his face, and tried to push forward against his shoulders. She succeeded a little but then Ashitaka tickled the side of her waist which made San jerk.

"Ashitaka stop!" She laughed as she resumed getting pushed into the pool, she looked from behind and saw that she was about to get pushed in the waterfall. "No Ashitaka! That's…" she couldn't stop giggling "…that's enough! I'm already wet!" Ashitaka still kept on pushing her and pushing. San then reached to the cascade and the falls started to lapse onto her. San ruptured out laughing with excitement, as she grabbed her hands onto the side of the rocks to try to stop the mischievous Ashitaka pushing her in even further. San then managed to pull herself out from the falls and then lashed herself on Ashitaka that made him fall back into the deep end. San still had her upper body above the surface as she wondered above the ground.

"Ashitaka?" she called out. "Ashitaka, where are you hiding? You know I will find you!" she daringly shouted out. Ashitaka wasn't noticed by San when he swam below the surface and came up close to her legs from behind. He swam pass them until his shoulders touched them. San then felt his contact and looked down through the water. But then Ashitaka lifted her out from the water and placed her weight on his shoulders with San sitting on them. San wobbled a little but then gained back control as Ashitaka tried to stand up right. "There you are!" she chortled at him, as he tried to walk steadily as he could. But the weight of San couldn't be controlled as they both collapsed into the water again. Yet they managed to rise back up quickly, only this time with San being held behind Ashitaka's back and her legs being held by him. San wrapped her arms around the nape of Ashitaka's neck and laid her head upon his, nevertheless the dampness of his hair. Ashitaka beamed again, but then loss control again deliberately and fell into the water over, and over, again. But the laughs still continued.

Later on, Ashitaka and San's clothes were left out spread across some boulders upon the sun's heat. Then out in the background came a sneeze from San.

"We can't go anywhere else with our clothes wet." Ashitaka assured her.

"True." She replied. They were both fully naked and stripped but sat facing back to back from each other with their arms crossed on the dry land. San looked quite sad later on whilst sitting behind Ashitaka, like there was something that she wanted to say to Ashitaka, so she turned around and faced him.

"Ashitaka?" He turned his head around slowly and then unintentionally looked at San and her feminine features on her body. He immediately turned red and looked away. "I had the most fun today."

"Don't be absurd; you must have had more fun with your family."

"Yes but…I've never had so much enjoyment with a human…" Ashitaka looked down with a bit of depression too. "…a lovable friend at that." He then looked up and started to gaze. San then laid her head on his shoulder and rested her eyes a little. Ashitaka just let her rest a little as he kept on looking at the scenery.

It was then nearly twilight, and Ashitaka and San carried on walking side by side with their clothes on finally and saw the rainbow sky flourish in the atmosphere, they then reached upon a small hill and saw outcast a deep navy ocean out ahead, with a dark flaxen shore.

"We've reached the sea?" Ashitaka asked.

"That's a sea?" San questioned him.

"Yes, you've never seen a sea before?"

"No." Ashitaka looked at her with some pity. "But it looks beautiful." San quietly finished her sentence. They then sat down among the long jade grass and watched the nightfall commence onto the sky, which then broke out the moonshine upon the land.

"It's now night, time must have flown today."

"It must have." Ashitaka replied to San as the moonlight reflected tenderly onto the sea. Moments have passed but then San looked at Ashitaka softly.

"Ashitaka, what do you want to do with me?" He then looked confusingly at San.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…is there anything you want to get off your chest? I know you feel something for me, but…are you ready to let it out?" He then shifted his body towards her and looked at her sensitively.

"There are many things I want to say to you but…I don't know if you'll accept me when I say it." He then looked down with despair.

"Then show me your emotion." He looked up at her again. "Show me, what you want to show me." San bravely stated to him.

Ashitaka then shifted his body closer to her, and place one of his hands on hers, and the other upon her face. He brought his face closer to hers and gently touched his cheek onto hers. The touch enticed both of their nerves to react with closing both of their eyes lightly, and he delicately raised his head up and down to feel the tender skin of San's. He then gradually lowered his head and breathed on San's neck. He came over to the front and quietly inhaled her natural scent of dew from the pool; he raised his head above to her face as San laid her head back to let rise up to her face, they were then cheek to cheek again. Ashitaka then brought his lips closer to hers as they nearly touched; the intensity of it drew them urging for something to happen. But then he stopped in his tracks and looked at San as they both opened their eyes.

"I'm sorry." Ashitaka apologized as he sat back down in his place. "That was improper of me; I shouldn't have done that." San then turned disappointed and poignant.

"That's ok." She then turned her back against him and wiped away the tear she shed. Ashitaka finally felt that she needed something from him, so he went up closer to her behind her back, and wrapped his arms around San's waist and quietly inhaled more of her dewy scent. San let it happen as she knew what could happen next. Ashitaka then touched her face and turned it towards his. They both remained eye contact for a moment, and then they just stared out into the moonlight shimmering off the ocean.

Later on, they came back into the house. San already felt tired from the exciting day she had with Ashitaka, so she laid her body on the fur bed of her wolf's pelt with Ashitaka kneeling behind her.

"Do you think we had so much today." San tiredly asked to him.

"I believe so." He replied, as San slowly rested her eyes and loosened herself.

"San?" Ashitaka quietly asked, leaning his body closer to her, she silently hummed to him. "Even though we live in different worlds…do you think we can be together?" San quietly moaned back as she came up to the tip of her doze.

"San?" Ashitaka asked once more, with another tranquil whisper that came off San. And then he leaned his head closer to San's face, and looked at her with moonshine tenderness in his eyes, and his skin brightened at little from the stars shining through a window. "…Can I love you?" he whispered to San, and then gently gave her a small kiss on her cheek. He felt the warmness of her skin touch his lips, and then lifted his head to look at the sleeping San. Then a miniature whisper came from her.

"Ashitaka, can you stay with me tonight? It's cold." Ashitaka then lifted his body from the ground and tenderly smiled down upon San, he then lay down on his back and let his eyes rest for another night.


	19. Encounter

**Encounter**

The wind blew strong in the dark morning of another mysterious day. Motoko slept restless within her sleep, as if she was having another nightmare of her father's death, or that she sensed something was coming. She gasped a heap of breath as she woke up, looking out to the navy sky with the crescent moon still distinct to see. Motoko rose up from her cool blankets of pelt and felt the impatient wind blew brawnier around and pass her body. She then suddenly saw a white mist passing by the house; she grew curious by this mysterious haze of snow float by. She walked slowly but closer to the miasma, and saw it taking the shapes of an animal; quite gigantic, a sort of deer-like character, but with a human face.

"Oh my God!" she gasped at this amazing creature. She then turned her head to the side and saw more specters leisurely walking by, both beasts and humans; with animals as large as the boar gods of the past, and humans dressed in armor and badges to prove of their worthiness. She turned her head another way and saw Sasuke staring back at her.

"They shouldn't be here." He stated firmly at Motoko. "They are ghosts; from the old world when there was a war between humans and animal gods who served the Forest Spirit."

"The Forest Spirit?"

"He used to own the entire forest here, but he was then killed by humans." Motoko then walked up to him.

"Why shouldn't they be here?"

"The living and the dead live in two different worlds; swapping into each other's territory can bring a horrible conflict between them, we mustn't make contact with them whatsoever."

"Are you saying they are summoned?"

"No, they are pulled here. I believe someone very powerful must have brought them here."

"Could it be that the person who brought them here wants them to stay?"

"Souls can only stay here for a certain period of time otherwise they disappear completely. They need a body to sustain their stay. It's the same with the living if they commence into spirit world."

"This person, could he or she must be sear-

"Searching for one soul." Sasuke interrupted Motoko's statement. "Even if you can bring a soul back and return it back into its original body, some must not come back, demons for example." Motoko looked at Sasuke with worry.

"Do you know who brought them here?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." Ashitaka and San then came up to Motoko and Sasuke and looked out to the path of the deceased.

"Why are they here?" Ashitaka asked.

"Someone brought them back." Motoko answered his question.

"We should let them be." Sasuke intervened, as then San stared out to the lifeless crowned. She then saw a gigantic white wolf that pressed its gigantic paws into the earth with every step it took.

"It's my Mother, she survived." San suddenly enlightened. "Mother! Mother over here!" She waved her arms in the air to catch the wolf's attention. Motoko then walked up to her in guilt.

"San…" She then turned to Motoko. "…she's a ghost." San's smile slowly turned down and worried with her eye pupils growing small, she then turned back to the great wolf god.

"Mother!" said forced out her calling, the wolf then looked down at the young princess.

"San? Are you dead?" She softly grunted at her, as then San shook her head with franticness. "I must be in the wrong place then. You must help us all get back."

"But I don't want you to get back!"

"And the man, there was a man. He used some sort of magic to bring us here. Blonde hair, black clothes, I heard his name was Keirtoro." Ashitaka and Sasuke then grew familiar with the name. "I think…there must be another immortal that can bring us back into our world." Ashitaka then looked at Sasuke as he thought that he could be the answer to send the ghosts back.

"No! I will bring you back!" San yelled out as she stumbled back into the house to grab her spear, she then raced back out and pointed her spear out. "Take my spear!" But the great wolf god just walked passed it with the blade running through her transparent body, with mist coming off from the blade.

"I'm so proud of you San. Ashitaka..." He then looked at the beast. "…take care of her.  
"Mother, the spear! Take the spear!" No matter how much San reached out, her mother refused to take hold of it, as the wolf god walked away from San at about a quite near distant from her. San then dropped the spear and ran towards her mother.

"SHE MUST NOT MAKE CONTACT!" Sasuke growled out ferociously as the other chased San to stop her from meeting her possible fate.

"I won't leave you Mother! Please stay!" San ran but was then caught by Ashitaka as he clutched his arms around her waist and pulled her away from the wolf god. "Let me go! I won't leave you! Don't go away!" She screamed out with tears pouring out from her eyes. "No! No! NO!" Ashitaka then turned her body away from the ghost as she planted her face onto his chest. Ashitaka caressed her head and stroked her back for comfort. Sasuke and Motoko looked at them both with depression as Ashitaka looked at Sasuke.

"Is there a way?" Sasuke then shook his head slowly and looked at him with quite sad eyes.

"We must leave them at peace." He quietly answered back. Ashitaka then looked down at San and pressed his face with hers, with Sasuke and Motoko looking at them both.

"They must have had some extraordinary experiences together in the past." Motoko implied.

"The way Ashitaka behaves around San, he must love her dearly, along with San loving him. Why else would their relationship be so strong?" Sasuke then asked her a rhetorical question which leaded her into deeper thoughts.

But suddenly, as the spirits had passed them, Sasuke then sense something vicious lurking ahead.

"What is it Sasuke?" Motoko asked, but then Sasuke swiveled behind her and embraced her in his arms.

"Don't move!" Sasuke whispered in her ear. But was suddenly then pulled back by some supernatural force and was then in the hands with some stranger, holding a knife to his throat. Ashitaka was then too pulled away from San and was then hold a knife to his throat too. San and Motoko wondered around to see what was going on. They moved in closer to each other for their protection, and then turned behind their back to see the black clothes; Keirtoro.

"So…one of you two must be the body?"

"The body?" Sasuke whispered.

"The body of what?!" Ashitaka question angrily, as then the stranger bounding him pressed the knife closer to his esophagus. Keirtoro then looked at Ashitaka.

"The body that holds the soul of Sakura." San then twitched when he heard the name, and Motoko looked away from Keirtoro. San suddenly narrowed her eyes and pressed her hands onto her head.

"Please don't say that name!" San screeched out.

"San what's wrong?" Ashitaka panicked. But then the stranger gripped onto his chocolate feather hair and pushed the dagger closer to his neck.

"Silence!" The stranger whispered to him spitefully.

"You were the one who brought the spirits into this world aren't you?" Sasuke quietly asked Keirtoro.

"You damn right, Kira. For a while I've been trying to find the one soul that will end humanity for good."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because it makes us rich." Another voice came in. A man in heavily resistant samurai armor came into the situation, and it turned about to be the commander of all Samurai: Lord Asano.

"What are you doing here?!" Motoko snarled at him.

"Oh, I am at ease with the good gentlemen here, as he helps me pay my wages to settle my target; to be rid of the people of Irontown."

"But all the people of Irontown are dead." Motoko entwined.

"All but one." Motoko then looked down to the floor and wondered who this "one" is?

"Kaya?!"

"Excellent! You must be a very clever girl!" Asano choked out with sarcasm.

"But she's your daughter!"

"Do you think that matters to me?" Then all of them looked at this callous beast of a human being.

"How can you say such a thing?" Ashitaka asked him with disgust.

"Speaking of which…where is she?" Sasuke then asked with worry.

"You're right; we haven't seen her for a couple of days now." Ashitaka intervened. The out of the blue, came in a small little creature from behind Ashitaka; it had a round head, translucent color, and clicked it's head every time it moved.

"Kodama!" He silently gasped behind him, but then the man holding him pulled his hair even further in. Then, another kodama came from behind, and then another and they came right into the circle of the whole scenario.

"What is that?" One of the strangers questioned with a small bit of fear.

"Don't be afraid, fool! It's just a harmless little weakling." Asano chuckled. Except, another bunch of kodamas coming in from the bushes, and then even more, and more, and more. The horde won't stop coming in, the four warriors became astonished of how many kodamas there were swarming in calmly; they even started to climb around and over their bodies.

"Now what is this?" Other stranger became frantic, and grew more tension inside he pressed the blade even further into Sasuke's flesh.  
The horde of kodamas the slowly climbed on top one another, the layers of lucid skin lapsed upon each other. Then the kodamas didn't take the original forms, they then grew some kind of fur on their flesh, their bodies merged into each other, and then they took a form in one. It then grew a massive canine body, with two strong back and front legs, a large narrow head, prickly ears, a long snout with a button nose, with a mouth with razors for teeth inside, then it grew eyes with an evil glow within them. All of the people shuddered in fear and shock. This…wolf like kodama looked down upon Asano and Keirtoro, and gave them a low but startling growl.

"Keirtoro! We must leave now!" Asano panicked, and the two strangers quivered through their spines that quaked their murderous but tranquil minds. Keirtoro looked at the kodama wolf, not with fear, but with irritation, he mildly scolded at it, and then gripped onto San's arm, and clutched it so tightly, it bruised her arm slightly. The kodama wolf then pinned it vision on Keirtoro, and gave him the most fearsome and bone-chilling bark.

"Keirtoro! Let her go, in fact, let them all go!" Asano fretted in terror, and the strangers shakily did what they were told; they released their blades from Ashitaka and Sasuke and backed down into the darkness. However Keirtoro thought otherwise.

"Let her go! We can get them another time other than getting into trouble!" Keirtoro gave the kodama wolf an ailing look, and willing let go of San. She squeezed her arm to try to relieve the pain, and Keirtoro and Asano fled from the scene. Sasuke tried to follow them, but was held back by Ashitaka's arm.

"Not now Sasuke; another time." Sasuke unwillingly obeyed him and stayed but. The kodama wolf then shattered into raindrops of little kodamas in their original forms, scattered back into the bushes and treetops. The four warriors then heard another noise from the bushes. They all turned to it with their hearts and eyes pouncing before themselves. Then suddenly, a white paw came out from the shadows, and then a chest with a snowy mane, and after that was a snout with a button nose, and then San could not believe what she saw.

"Brother?" she whispered to him, as the wolf came out more, she saw Kaya riding the back of him.

"Kaya?!" Sasuke and Motoko became astounded, but San was astounded even more. Kaya jumped off the wolf and ran into both Sasuke and Motoko. They both embraced Kaya and enfolded tightly.

"Where have you been?!" Motoko fretted a little.

"I saw a spirit walking by one day, so I decide to follow it. I found its body, and then he and the body merged together. We then had some time together and he told me about San, so we decided to go back to you guys and give you this big surprise." Motoko looked at Sasuke but he looked stern.

"The spirits have been pulled here days ago. There's no wondering how long they will survive here." Sasuke spoke quite lowly. Then Kaya interrupted.

"Hey, you two are like mummies and daddies. Sasuke being the dad, and Motoko being the mum. Are you two together?" They both stuttered and blushed at the same time.

"No we're not." They both said, when they thought back to their intimate comfort on that night.

San was then embracing her brother in her arms and squeezed him tensely.

"I thought you died." San whispered in his ear.

"I thought you died." He replied back. San then moved away from him to see his face.

"Is the other…" The brother then looked down with sadness. San then felt what he was feeling too, and resumed her squeeze with him. Ashitaka stared out to what was happening around him, and looked at them with happiness, and despair.

"If only I had a family like them before." He spoke to himself in sorrow, and looked back up to the beautiful view. Then, out from the mists, came another supernatural figure. It shaped into a human; a male one. With the same type of clothes Ashitaka was wearing, the same feathery he had, only in a pony tail, and the same grey eyes as well. It looked just like Ashitaka only older, about twenty-five years old I say – what? I'm just making this up as I go along- The mirror image then pranced out a red elk from its body as it soared into the sky.

"Yakul." Ashitaka whispered to the flying elk. He then looked back to his doppelganger, as the spirit then opened his mouth with wind breathed out of it, and whispered…

"…My son." Ashitaka gasped at the words that floated out from his mouth, he felt a pale adrenaline rush dashing through his veins and some sort of lightness that sparked his heart up.

"Father?" he silently whispered to him. The spirit then raised his left hand and slowly reached it out towards Ashitaka. With himself being hypnotized by the latest sighting of his father, he too, very slowly, reached out his hand towards him. Sasuke was enjoying the small reunion with Kaya, until he saw Ashitaka nearly touching the skin of a ghost. He grew shocked sprinted towards him.

"No!" He leaped on top of Ashitaka to stop his contact with his father, and the spirit disappeared into the air.

Ashitaka then viciously pushed Sasuke aside and looked at him angrily.

"What have you done?!"


	20. Tigers Going Down Fighting

**Tigers Going Down Fighting**

"I have told all of you, DO NOT make contact with the spirits! Even Kaya knew that without me saying!" Sasuke growled back.

"I wasn't going to touch him!"

"Not from what I saw!" Motoko then whispered Kaya in the ear to go home with San's brother, whilst her and San stepped away from the two arguers, but Motoko intervened once more.

"Guys, I don't think you should get into anymore fights, I believe you shoul-

"No! I've had it!" Ashitaka then rose up to his feet as so did Sasuke. "I thought I had you going straight after that fight we had before."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Sasuke growled at Ashitaka into his eyes as he walked up to him fiercely.

"You heard me." Ashitaka replied coldly. San then tried to get involved, but feared it would cost more damage.

"Besides, what made that ghost so special to you then?" Sasuke asked slyly.

"My father!" San took a deep breath in when he heard those words.

"Then his stupidity runs through your veins then." When Sasuke spat those words out, Ashitaka turned white as a sheet by the second, and the light in his heart turned into a black viscous substance that unpurified his heart and turned his emotions into stone.

"Take…it…back!" He scolded at Sasuke.

"Never."

"TAKE IT BACK!" He started to bellow at Sasuke as he walked into him and Sasuke moved back from his presence.

"No!" He hollered at Ashitaka. But then Ashitaka tackled him roughly into his side that made him fall back into the earth. Motoko and San immediately jumped back from the brawl that was happening.

"Stop! Stop it right now!" San screeched out, but was held back by Motoko. Ashitaka and Sasuke struggled to get back onto their feet as they were both grabbing for each other's throats. But then Ashitaka dragged Sasuke back up and slammed his back against the bark off a tree, but was then kicked in the stomach by Sasuke and punched harshly in the face. Ashitaka stared at the ground for a moment with a red rash on his cheekbone, and then gritted his teeth as he exhaled. Sasuke then pushed his body with his on the floor and pinned him down on his pelvis, and hit him in the face once more. Ashitaka then shifted him onto the ground and pinned him down as well and slammed his fist into his stomach. Sasuke winced from the very moment Ashitaka's fist was plummeted into him. So he then flipped him over and thrashed his back twice into the ground, which made Ashitaka ache in his spine.

"Motoko, their going to kill themselves!"

"Don't you think I know that?! But we can't do anything at the moment!" Motoko shouted with worry, but all they could do at the moment was watch.

Ashitaka and Sasuke were still acting like tigers, going down fighting, as Ashitaka was then held by his collars and shoved back to a rock which grazed his back a little. Ashitaka thumped Sasuke in the stomach and kicked him back out into the open. They both then clashed into each other once more and they moved violently to shove the other back to the ground.

"Don't push me Ashitaka! Don't let me release my demons." Sasuke whispered in his ears.

"Demons? Huh! You haven't seen mine yet!" Ashitaka scoffed back. But then they were then both pulled away from each fiercely, they then slammed their heads to solids that made them unconscious.

"I hope this stops them." San pleaded.

"I hope so too. But I am more worried about Sasuke; he can't keep his temper as stable as Ashitaka."

"But I've never seen Ashitaka break like that before." They both looked at the unconscious bodies and carried them back into the house.

The afternoon was bleak and grey, and there wasn't much life to be spotted in the area. San sat by the cataleptic Ashitaka lying on the floor sojourned. San just stared at him with concern and worries.

Whilst Motoko was in the other room in the same house, but in a darker part of the house, where she looked at Sasuke with distraught but concern.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but it is the only way you will learn." She she's him with his wrists hung high but his head laid low. His wrists were tied with strong rope and tied to metal closed hooks on the walls, there was blood dripping silently on the floor, with his grey kimono stripped from him but was left with his black turtleneck on. Suddenly, Motoko felt an energy coming off Sasuke; the vectors started to appear, and slashed the rope into pieces. Motoko stepped back straight away as the bruised Sasuke fell to the floor; the blood was then smeared across the surface. At first his body position seemed typical; dead. But then he picked up his arms and crawled himself slowly to Motoko.

She became frantic and shaken, her face turned pale and her eyes grew small as she steps away from Sasuke in horror. She was then back up against the slide door but couldn't open it with Sasuke noticing; so she just let him come to her, terrified if he's going to kill her or not. But then, as he reached one or two footsteps away from her, he lifted his half bloody face, with the redness dripping from his forehead as he looked up…and said…

"Where's Ashitaka?"


	21. Unintentional Smothering

**Unintentional Smothering**

Motoko still looked down on Sasuke with horror as she thought that he would bring her to his fate. She knew that he couldn't control his temper well if he found out that she tied him up, he could possibly kill her.

"I'm not saying it again." Sasuke threatened her, so then Motoko slowly opened the slide to its fullest, and then quickly escaped out of the room.

"You shouldn't have attacked Sasuke like that." San quietly spoke to the cataleptic Ashitaka as she still sat by his body. "I don't really know what he said, but you shouldn't feel repressed by him; it's a dangerous thing Ashitaka, because I have felt it myself." She still looked down upon his blemished face, and then unhurriedly placed her hand on it, and stroked it.

He Ashitaka's hand quickly grabbed onto her wrist and San gasped in a slight taste of fright into her blood. He then slowly opened his eyes and looked up at San.

"What happened to me?" San stuttered as she looked at Ashitaka with horror.

"You fought with Sasuke, and I knock you out." San trembled. He then rose up from his bed side and stared at San. He appeared to be crossed between being dozed off from reality and into some surreal world, and with his heart and soul drench in wrath and suppression that exploded inside him and covered his bones with the snakes of hate. By San seeing the detestation in his eyes at that point, she stuttered as she rose ad ran off into another room, and slammed the door shut. She breathed heavily in and out to dilute the poison she inhaled.

"_What's the matter San? Afraid of hate? You've experienced hate before."_

"True." She answered back to the whisper in her head. "But I don't want to bear it anymore."

"_Why not? It made us invincible; don't you want to free princess one more?"_ San took some thought into the word "free". The princess thought back to when before she met Ashitaka, she was a vicious predator among the humans. But should she return to that old life?

Ashitaka wobbled at first when he stood up, but he got his balance controlled again as he walked out of the house and into the next. He lit a few candles of wood and stone and laid his back against the wall with his head hung low, and coldly spoke to himself.

"Come on, Sasuke."

Sasuke then heard those words come through his head as his eyes pricked up. He then rose to his feet and walked slowly out of the house. He walked unhurriedly to the other house, where he opened the slide to see the wooden candles lit up. He looked around cautiously and then spotted Ashitaka leaning against the wall on his right.

"Ashitaka." He whispered, as then the young prince looked up at him with his vicious eyes.

"You heard my call then?"

"I can hear anything." Ashitaka then scoffed at him and looked away. Sasuke then walked up to him with a bit of haste.

"I didn't to call you or…your father stupid." He leaned his arm on the wall as he leaned over Ashitaka.

"I can hardly believe that." Ashitaka lowly spoke back.

"And I didn't mean to insult you; I wish I could take it back in a way."

"Then don't come near me. Just stay away from me. Because all you can do is hurt me." Sasuke inhaled a deep breath in and leaned in closer to Ashitaka.

"Ashitaka, I can't believe that I'm say this but…you're the only one who can help me."

"_Usotsuki." _

Liar –

Sasuke gasped at what he heard as Ashitaka turned his head back to him with the most malicious look he saw. He then backed away from him as Ashitaka started to walk towards him.

"You need my help because you're afraid. You're afraid of me and San; you're even scared of Motoko!" He started to growl towards Sasuke as he kept making him walk away from him.

"Ashitaka…!"

"You're afraid you won't love Motoko as much as I love San. Because you will take anything for granted and throw it away."

"_Tasukete Ashitaka!" _

"_Donna toki de mo kimi ajio dareka nai!" _

"Help me Ashitaka!"

"You've never really love anyone!"

Ashitaka then pushed Sasuke into the lit candles as the sparks flew above them. Sasuke started to fall tremendously as he burnt his arm when the sparks ignited touched him.

"You never loved anyone! That's why you hate everyone!" Ashitaka yelled at Sasuke as he smacked to the floor roughly, and just looked down upon his body.

"Wretch."

Sasuke lay dead for the moment, and then slowly pressed his hand down, and tried to lift himself up.

"You…you just don't understand, do you?" Sasuke lowly spoke, with his head low but his body up, never minding the small specks of burn on his shoulder. Then he took a step closer to Ashitaka. "You…are one stubborn ASS!" Sasuke then grabbed Ashitaka's shoulders and slammed him against the wall.

"BECAUSE NO OF YOU UNDERSTAND!" He carried on slamming Ashitaka's back against the wall, but Ashitaka did nothing to stop him. It was as if he chose not to make a move to repel himself from Sasuke, or that his anger had weakened his stamina and that his only defense is his supernatural rage inside him.

"BUT PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME LIVE! PLEASE HELP ME LOVE!" Sasuke them smashed Ashitaka's shoulders against the wall once more and then let him be; panting in and out with Ashitaka looking down on him with eeriness.

"No." He firmly replied to Sasuke, and then there was nothing but utter silence. Sasuke breathed in and out silently, with no twitch or sound.

Then clenched his fists, with his fringe covering an eye and thrust his hands upon Ashitaka's neck and squeezed it intensely. Sasuke turned his sadness into repulsion as he gritted his teeth as Ashitaka grew sick in the face. Sasuke put so much force into choking him; he managed to lift him from the ground. Ashitaka finally tried to lift his arms, but the force from Sasuke was too powerful to complete. His eyes started to lose the light and doze away into the darkness. Sasuke became unstable, and lost control of himself. But then he looked through a near-closed slide, where he could see the horrified Kaya looking at him strangling Ashitaka. He immediately let go of him; leaving Ashitaka to wheeze in air and cough out the unpleasantness of his near-death. Sasuke began to fret, looking at Kaya and then Ashitaka. Ashitaka clutched onto his throat and soothed it a little, and then he looked up at Sasuke.

"What have I done? Sasuke…I'm so sorry." He rasped out.

"No…no I'm the one who should be sorry. I-I…I nearly killed you! What have I done? What have I done?!" Sasuke then gripped onto his head and bend his back a little in shock. Ashitaka rose wobbly to his feet and tried to get closer to Sasuke and reach out his hand.

"Sasuke, I-

"No!" Sasuke slapped the hand away from him.

"Stay away from me and you won't get hurt! I'm a monster!" He ran out of the house and into the grayness of the weather. Ashitaka tried to catch him but he ran too far. He looked out from the house as he saw Sasuke ran into the forest screaming. He then turned around and saw Kaya crying.

"_Doshite? Doshite kare itameru kimi? Itameru sono yamerou."_

"Why? Why did he hurt you? This pain must stop."

Ashitaka then sighed down at Kaya.

"Kaya…"

"This pain must stop!" she screeched out with tears flying out from her eyes. Ashitaka then knelt down and hugged her gently.

"It will Kaya, it will."


	22. Sakura: The First Princess Mononoke

**Sakura: The First Princess Mononoke **

San was still in the other room of the other house; too terrified of Ashitaka at that moment to unveil her appearance to him. So she sat against a wall; with her knees clutched together and her arms wrapped round them. The suddenly she felt a cold breeze passing her body, she rose her head up from the wind that touched her nerves. The breeze then blew stronger and brushed pass her face, after that, the maddening whisper occurred back into her head again.

"_I'll be coming to see you soon San; it's time to remember the princess you once were." _

The wind suddenly struck San in the chest, which made her sleep and reoccur memories she had nearly forgotten, with images of the past flickering in her mind.

"Mother, why are humans bad?"

"But I'm human though, right?"

"Why can't I meet new friends?"

"Because they will reject you."

"How do you know? You're not human!"

"Go ahead then; go into the human world and see what they are like."

"Fine! I will!"

Then suddenly, the pictures turned into a soft, blurry blackness that lasted for a few moments, and then, San saw herself sleeping in a bed. She was about thirteen years old then, with a thick, long-sleeve shirt stitched with wolf's fur and worn underneath it was her violet baggy dress. She was covered with a thick blanket of boar fur in a small room. There was a blurry figure standing over her, as she felt the touch of a hand on her forehead. She felt hot; her cheeks were deep pink and her head was cringing with a migraine. The hand was then lifted from her forehead, as then the figure had left the room, and shut the slide to block the light out from the room. San then opened her hazy eyes and looked at the ceiling, as she overheard whispers coming from two humans outside.

"She's got fever."

"Again? Why does she keep doing that?"

"I don't know, but it has to stop; it's becoming a nuisance."

"And what is with those markings on her face?"

"I heard she was raised by wolves in the forest."

"No wonder she acts like an animal."

San sighed to herself with depression as she heard the gossip. She then rose to her feet as she tried to control her balance; she then slowly climbed out from a window behind her. When she climbed out, she found herself in some small tropical wildlife with dark pea green leaves and ebony bark. She tried to walk steadily for a few moments, but failed to do so as she fell quite aggressively onto the earth with her face flat down. She couldn't move; she didn't want to move. But then she heard some sort of purring in front of her. So she looked up, and saw a cute raccoon looking at her friendly. She chuckled as it licked her cheek.

"Are you worried about me?" She giggled a little more. "Don't worry about me. I'm here to prove to my mother that humans aren't monsters, and to make friends but…it's not going too well." She then laid her face flat again. "Humans aren't monsters…right?" She started to sob to herself.

"Hey wolf! Hey! That's right, you!" A boy shouted from the corner of another room. San was standing over her wolf coat covered in mud, with three other boys standing behind her. "Why's your coat covered in mud, and why does it stink so much?" A boy in green spoke with cheekiness, but San refused to reply.

"Can't you even talk?" Another boy in red asked her, as he pushed her over viciously and made her collapse to the floor. The boys then laughed at her maliciously as she bruised her shoulder.

"I heard the teachers called you an animal, and they ditched you in the forest." The boy in blue spoke.

"No wonder; she must have tried to eat one of them." A boy in purple intervened. San tried to get up without speaking, but then she was once again tripped over and ended flat on her face. The boys laughed at her again as they also began to point at her.

"You must be a beast in disguise. I wonder what we would find if we cut you open." One in blue wondered horridly while the others just…laugh and point. San gritted her teeth and looked angrily at the floor. Then a girl wearing a brown kimono walked in, and saw the bullying that was taken place in there.

"_Sensei!_ Neiji and the boys are causing trouble!" she shouted out.

"Damn it! Let's scram." The boy in blue pushed passes the girl along with the other two out of the room.

"Bullying a girl is the worst!" She shouted across to them, and then walking up to San as she stood back up again. "Are you alright? Oh no, they ruined your coat." She sighed at the stained wolf's fur with San staring at it too.

"The humans here are miserable."

"Pardon me?"

"When you are miserable, you pick on someone the opposite of miserable." San then grabbed the coat and ran out of the room.

"Hey wait!" shouted the girl.

The girl then washed the coat in a small stream outside with the pea leaves and San standing behind her.

"There, it should be better now." She raised the coat out of the water and handed it to San. "Why do you let those boys bully you?"

"I don't know…I just don't feel strong enough around them." San said weakly.

"Well, you always have me to come to when you have a problem."

"Really?" San pricked her head up to the young girl.

"That's right." They both smiled at each other as they walked back into the tropical house.

Later on in the night, San sneakily escaped out from her room again and into the forest; carrying a tiny bag full of cooked rice. She stood near the stream where the girl kindly rinsed her coat in. She made an animalistic purring noise quietly to the atmosphere. Then the raccoon that met her the last night came to her again.

"There you are." She giggled to it, and then handed out her bag of rice and tipped out the soft grains of it. "I brought you some food." Then the raccoon began to feed off from the ground as it chewed the rice with its grainy teeth. It had then already gulped up the last bits of the rice. "You must have been hungry then." San chuckled as she let out her hand as the raccoon licked off it, and then it released a rumble from its stomach as San chuckled at it. "I guess half of my dinner wasn't enough for you." She giggled. But then the raccoon made a small bark at the house behind San as she looked at the back. "Don't ever go there, even if you are hungry. There are horrible people who live there who will torment you. If only I was stronger, then I would protect you." The raccoon barked at the house once more.

_If only I was stronger… _

San thought to herself as she dreamt. She had her legs and arms wrapped close to her, as she then looked at her hands. She then slowly raised them out to the sky and into a bright light. She felt some sort of energy running through her veins as then some strange snakes rose out to the sky.

She suddenly opened her eyes to look at the ceiling once more panting heavily.

"Something is…moving inside me." She whispered to herself as she then saw eccentric scaly marks across the floor. She then rose from her bed and quietly walked out of her room quickly, and then, when she walked out from the building, she saw the young girl in the brown kimono washing her cloth. She kept staring at the girl until she looked up at her.

"_Nani?" _

"What is it?"-

The young girl asked, and then San blurted out her little secret.

"I have a new pet here."

"Wow! Really?!" The girl grew excited, but then was hushed by San. "Oh sorry! I know; Neiji and the boys will bully it. It's alright; I'll keep quiet about it. Can I see it?" San then whistled to the atmosphere as the young raccoon came out from the bushes. "Aww! So cute!" The young girl squirmed. They both then patted it gently.

Later on that day, San sat by a small wooden desk, with a small plant of sakura watered in a glass vase, until the bullies returned to harass her.

"Hey wolf!" San muttered at the Neiji. "You know you are really cheeky; for someone who's not human." He grinned at her, as then rose up the raccoon that she played with earlier. San grew shock as her eyes turned small, all the boys started to laugh at her again.

"You son of a…!" San growled as she charged at him, but was then held back by the boy in red. They boys still kept on being amused by her. "Please! Let it go!"

"I've never seen you this upset before!" sniggered the boy in purple.

"You're just like a plank with no emotion before. Now, I want you to cry; cry like a baby! Or else…we will hurt the raccoon instead of you." San then brutally kicked him in the stomach as he winced in pain.

"Aaah! Goddamn it! Hey, beat the shit out of that rat Neiji!"

"_Yamerou!"_ San pleaded, but the boy then booted the raccoon against the wall as it whined in ache. San grew pale in her face as she saw the beating of an innocent creature. She tried to struggle her way free but the strength of the boy behind her was still too strong for her to bear.

"We thought this way; it will hurt you the most." Neiji spoke with malice. He then raised an axe from his side and lifted it into the air. "Hold it still." He then slammed he blade into the creature, as it screamed in anguish, but Neiji still kept lashing the axe down on it again and again. San felt she was going to be sick and hurled a little. Sweat dripped down the side of her face, her lips turned cold, and her limbs started to tremble.

"Why? Why are they doing this? Humans don't do these kinds of things, do they?" She silently whimpered to herself. Then the girl in brown came running in.

"Stop that!" she squeaked as she saw the beating of the raccoon.

"But, you're the one who told us about the rat."

San then gasped in shock as she looked up at the girl.

"Yes but…going this far is…" The girl then looked at the betrayed San, and huffed in a breath and covered her mouth.

"I'm so sorry! It's because I've told them I…!" San then let her head hung down with deceitfulness and disloyalty from her "friend".

"Hey! It stopped moving." The boy in purple spoke, as the boy in blue scoffed at the raccoon.

"That was fast!" he spat out with the blood spreading across the floor, San then thought to herself about what she said, along with the last images of horror she had just saw.

"When you are miserable, you pick on someone the opposite of miserable. I finally see it now; the ones who are inhuman, the ones who are monsters…ARE YOU!!"

The suddenly, blood shot out from the boy behind her as his head flew off from his body. The blood had spread widely across the wall. Neiji gasped at what he saw, as then more of this red fluid fluttered transversely onto the ceiling and floor. The liquid had made an unnatural pattern everywhere; it even stained the innocent pink sakura, tarnishing it with dark red. Then San realized what she done; she had massacred everyone in the room.

She had escaped permanently from her old house, and buried the dead raccoon in a stone grave, and looked down upon it with blue sentiment.

"Please forgive me; I've done a terrible thing." Her eyes began to water. "Just because I'm different to other humans, why must this happen? Why?" She started to tremble, as she then gripped her hands upon her head, and began to squeeze violently. She then heard footsteps approach her.

"Excuse me?" She heard a girl voice, but then harshly exhaled out and looked darkly behind her. She saw another girl, with long chestnut hair tied up in a high ponytail as the end swerved with the calm breeze and her fringe that went up to her forehead, her skin was quite pale as snow, the eyes were deep blue with glitters of sapphire in them, she was wearing a purple kimono; all quite ragged but stitched up neatly, she was also wearing beige trousers which went down just below her knees, along with her gritty sandals. The girl wondered at the mysterious San as she carried somewhat; a red clay mask, with orange markings and three holes and was also pierced together with white wolf fur; along with clay fake ears of red on top of the main mask, as if it was made to look like a real wolf. San stared at it furtively and with curiosity; she had became hypnotized with the strange mask. The girl then looked down at the mask to where San was looking at as well.

"You…you've been looking at it for a while now." She then put the mask away in a brown bag she carried over her shoulder. San then looked back down on the grave.

"It's just…it's just that I like the style of it." The young girl then looked at San's face as she saw the red wolf marks upon it.

"Are they real; your markings?" San then turned angry by her question.

"Humans…are so aggravating." Snakes then slowly rose out sneakily from her back, and tried to make its way to the girl. Then suddenly the girl lapsed her hands onto San's shoulders and turned her around; San became anxious and uneasy by her touch.

"Wow! They are so amazing! You are so cool!" San then softened her emotions as the purple lucent snakes disappeared. But she then quite insensitively moved the girl's hands off her.

"It's because of these I have been through so much; people won't accept me for who I am." She then walked away from the girl.

"Hey! My name's Naru! Do you want to become friends?" San then thought back to the last "friend" she had once.

"You've got to be kidding me." She hissed back.

"What do you mean? I'm sure we won't be that bad." San stopped in her tracks and looked back at Naru.

"Even if we would be friends, my markings annoy me."

"Well then…" Naru then walked hastily to San, grabbed the mask out of her bag, and shoved it on top of San's head.

"What are you doing?!"

"There, now you won't be so annoyed when you're around people; it even suits you too." San felt the soft fabric as it touched her skin, and smiled a little.

Naru and San then sat down near a tree blowing sakura from its branches.

"Now I've told you my name; what is yours?" San stuttered a little.

"I don't really have a name. People had called me "wolf" once, but I don't like that name." Naru then looked at the blossoms on the trees.

"What about Sakura?"

"Sakura?"

"It means flower blossom; what do you think?"

"I…I like it." San chirped. She then looked at Naru as she smiled at her.

"So Sakura, what are doing tonight?"

"Tonight? Why?"

"I and my other friends are going to the star festival that's taking place not far from here; you should come." San then heard the word "other friends" and thought to herself for a moment.

"Maybe I shouldn't come or I'll kill them. Kill?" San then lead herself into a dark room in her mind. "What's wrong with me? Why do I have to kill?"

"_Because you love killing humans."_ The eerie voice occurred into her head. "No. Just because I killed others before doesn't mean I will kill them now."

"_You should know by now; we were brought up by wolves, and man and animals don't live in harmony. As a wolf; we should kill humans on sight." _

"No!"

"What's the matter Sakura?" Naru asked out.

"I mean "No!". No I will not come!" San firmly stated.

"Come on, please? If you wear the mask when you're there, you won't have anything to worry about." Naru commented which made San think once more.

"Fine; I will come."

"Great!" Naru then gave San a big bear hug that made her blush a little.

"I have to go now, but meet me there at dusk."

"I will." San quite weakly replied, as then Naru grabbed her belongings and ran off into the darkness of the forest, leaving San to doubt on her decision.

"_Don't come running to me if things fail to plan."_

"It won't; I'll promise you that."

Afterwards it became dusk. A bunch of lights were lit up not quite far from the forest, the breeze became warm and peaceful as it swept by. And over the forest was a small market where a lively festival was taken place. The people hustled and bustled in their traditional costumes, as the children giggled with glee from the delight they saw that night. And in from the crowd came San, or "Sakura" wearing her wolf mask that was given to her.

"This isn't going to be so bad; I think humans aren't so bad after all, except for the odd view." She carried on walking, trying to find Naru. Until there were a few faces that started to stare at her. She began to feel uneasy a little, as her paranoia started to build tension again. Except finally she spotted Naru with another group of variable children surrounded her. "There she is!" But then she heard whispers coming from the conversation from Naru and her friends as she speaks.

"I saw you talking to another animal before tonight." Said one of the girls.

"Animal? What are you talking about?" Naru questioned with confusion.

"You know; the girl with red markings on her face." Replied another.

"I heard she was raised up by wolves, and that her human parents threw their baby at them to save themselves." San then gasped at what she heard.

"My parents were humans? And they abandoned me?" San quivered.

"Huh! No wonder no one wants her in any group." A boy intervened into the mix.

"Now, that' not true!" Naru argued back.

"Come on now! Tell us the real truth; do you find her weird?" Naru then sighed to herself as she shrugged her shoulders. Then the other laughed and smiled. Sakura grew sick and frail.

"I knew it! I bet you only wanted to be friends with her out of pity!" One the girls shouted out.

"I bet the girl's a freak really." The boy roared out with laughter, as Naru only chuckled nervously. Sakura still stood at a fair distant away from the group feeling like she needs to vomit.

"Why did she lie to me?" Sakura quivered to herself, until she was then pushed over by an obese man as she fell flat to the floor.

"Watch where you're standing baka!" The man spat at her as she still lay level with the floor.

"Why did she lie to me? Why" San shuddered in her head.

"I just didn't want to be the bad guy." She heard Naru's voice as she looked up to see a spitting image of her. "I only lied so I would still be higher than you."

"Then why did we become friends then?" San asked with fear.

"Like they said; I only did it out of pity." San then cried as she then saw all the children she killed out of her unnatural powers.

"_How stupid can you be…to make the same mistake twice?"_ The voice came back this time in a shadow, as Sakura cried.

"No more! I can't take it anymore! I want to go home!" she screeched out as she plummet her face into her hands with tears dripping out from them. Then the shadow came across to her, and rubbed her shoulders intently.

"_Like I said before; man and animals can't live in the same world." _

"When what should I do?" Sakura asked the shadow.

"…_It's simple…" _The shadow the dropped her mask like a blanket, and then revealing the mirror image of Sakura, but more darker and filled with evil, with her face darkened and her fringe masking one of her eyes.

"…_Turn the world into our world, change humans into nothing but mere dust. I have the power to change that. After all…we were born with demon curse, and it is our duty to embrace it, not like humans who got caught with them and die within time. Make us immortal; turn us into Princess Mononoke."_

"Ok then" Sakura replied. Her body then rose from the floor, and took off her mask to show off her markings. Then suddenly one of the girls in Naru's group spotted her.

"Hey! Isn't that her?" She pointed out, as Naru then saw her too.

"Oh no!"

"Take my body; release my soul to rule over me." Sakura pleaded, as then the shadow touched her body and her spirit floated into the distance; turning her world black…and black…and black…

Then, a flash of light swiped pass a group from a crowd, and decapitated them from their organs. Blood sprayed over the scene as it splattered Sakura on her clothes and face. The severed limbs fell to the floor as the other turned frantic and terrified.

"What happened?!" One panicked.

"Quick; lets get out of here!" another shouted out as he started off a running spree around the festival, with people colliding over each other to run away from what was happening. But Sakura walked calmly forward as if she didn't care what she was doing, then the group that was talking to her, approached her without Naru.

"Is that her?" one of the girls asked.

"Why is she covered in blood?" another questioned.

"I don't know, are you-?

Before the boy could finish their sentence, all three of their heads departed from their bodies as the blood poured out fountains of liquid into the air. Sakura still stood there with malice in her eyes.

"_I'll kill you. Every damn last one of you!" _She coldly whispered. As then Naru was watching from a dark corner where she saw her friends butchered like cattle; she saw what her new "friend" did.

"Sakura…w-what have you done?" she trembled with fear and fright as she then fled the scene.

Outside the festival, there were a couple of people including Naru, which escaped from Sakura's wrath.

"Are we safe?" A man panted.

"I think we are. What happened back there?!" another dreaded. Naru heaved in deep breaths of air into her lungs as she looked back at the horror festival. But what she didn't notice was that the Princess Mononoke was floating far above her heads with the snakes of hate caressing around her. She looked down at the humans, and gave them a look they will never forget.

"…_Usotsuki."_

San then gasped out from her dream as she rose from her laying position.

"Even if I would return to my past life, it could mean that I will do something that I will regret forever, like Naru." San whispered to herself, and then looked back outside a window to see the collapsed Ashitaka with Kaya outside.

"Ashitaka!"


	23. Blackmail

**Blackmail **

Sasuke was found still running scarcely through the forest. His heart still thumped fiercely as it pounced his chest. Cold sweat ran down his face with terror of himself. He started to get chills running through his skin, as his teeth grinded together. Then he finally slowed his pace down to a minimum; catching his breath back. His panting of inhalation turned into cries of dejection. But then he heard some fair footsteps approaching from behind him. He quickly turned, but then was stabbed in the neck by some sort of knife; seeing Keirtoro piercing him. He then released his knife from his skin, and let Sasuke collapse to the floor.

"Tie him up." Keirtoro ordered, as the samurais from behind dragged the body out of the forest and tired him up with rope.

Sasuke finally woke up, but in a strange room. He was tied up in steel chains, with his wrists and ankles shackled and his stamina at a low rank.

"At last you've woken up." Keirtoro said looking down upon him. Sasuke then rose weakly and tried to stand up strong.

"I've known you were the one behind Irontown's murder." Sasuke coldly spoke as he tried to reach Keirtoro, but was pulled back by the chains locked to the floor as it pulled his wrists back. Sasuke looked down upon them and scoffed. He reached out one of his vector snakes and lashed one of them on the chains, but they didn't break; not a single scratch. Sasuke became confused by the chains.

"These chains are made by the demon magic itself; you cannot break them." Sasuke then scolded at Keirtoro.

"Where are we? How have you manage to lock me up like this?!"

"We are in Irontown, and I hold sorcery far greater than you know." Sasuke took a short pause for a moment.

"You exchange your soul to the demons; for them to hold you."

"Clever boy. I have been sent here to do their work; and that is to rid of the human…and beasts race." Keirtoro leaned his head to Sasuke.

"Why? To hold power over the earth? I don't believe it's that simple."

"True…have you a great interest in foresights."

"Only some." Keirtoro then looked away from Sasuke.

"Then are you aware of the soul of Sakura?" Sasuke then pricked up and trembled a little by the name.

"Not just a soul; the goddess of demons, who holds power and control through hate and blood. The world is best fit to see her suffer in the underworld."

"It's a shame then; because I intend on releasing her."

"No! You mustn't! Her supremacy will bring you all to your fates!"

"I highly doubt it. Because following the same prophecy, if you manage to tear her soul apart, her ashes will turn you into the god of demons, or bring the balance of human and nature herself into harmony. I rather like the first choice."

"And how will you accomplish that?" Sasuke then lazily leaned his back against the wall with attitude. "You haven't even found her body."

"I think I have. You see when Sakura still lived in the human world; she was joined with another soul, sort of opposite from her. And somehow that soul…managed to send her to the underworld. Do you even know how Sakura came to be?" Sasuke then shook his head. "Because the body was born with the demon curse. She wasn't captured by it or anything; she was given birth to it, through her blood." Sasuke then looked down upon himself. "And that her true name, the true goddess…was disowned by humans, and raised in the arms of a beast."

"San!" he gasped out and then glued his mouth shut as he turned away from him.

"Hence the name Princess Mononoke. She holds the body of Sakura, and she was the one who-

"Sent her to the underworld." Sasuke interrupted. "The opposite of a god, but human."

"Her mortality will soon be at an end."

"Not before I end yours." Sasuke snarled at Keirtoro, and then walked up to Sasuke and glared at him.

"And how will do that; with your snakes of hate?" He then blurted out a heap of laughter. "And you call yourself immortal. Do you even know why you became immortal?"

"Because humans have tampered with me."

"Because you were conveyed here to watch over earth. Your job is to look over the eras of the future as you proceed through time. You're a guardian here; you're here to make sure that the dead and the living don't combine. And your murdering fame has preceded you to become Kira." Sasuke then looked at him in the eye. "But you guardians are not immortal at all; we can kill you, but with a number of rounds. But now I have found a way to kill you in an instant; to strike you through the heart where it all functions. Then something tells me that you're not afraid of death now." Sasuke then looked away from Keirtoro as he wickedly smiled. "Could it be that the great Kira wants to die?"

"I am not afraid of death nor do I wish it. I have now found my purpose to stay here."

"And that is not just to watch over the humans is it?"

"No." Sasuke firmly stated.

"You've made yourself new friends here. Well, I will bring back Sakura from the grave, and your punishment here will be to live on forever, when I have killed your purpose to exist. As the immortals of the shadows; you will obey me for eternity." Sasuke then chuckled at him quietly.

"You are forgetting one prediction; there is one immortal that will be reborn, not from darkness, but from light, people sometimes refer to him as "The Phoenix". One much greater than me, you, or any of your other forces, and he…or she…will send you all…back."

"Well…I best make sure that doesn't happen then."

"Are going to kill me then?"

"No. You will bring Princess Mononoke to me, or your lover goes under." Sasuke then pushed his body towards Keirtoro but was pulled back by the chains.

"You wouldn't dare!" He growled at Keirtoro.

"Motoko is it? I call her then." He then closed his eyes and brought upon him a cold wind that surrounded his, and the sent away out from Irontown. "We'll then see where your principles lie." He then left as Sasuke kept growling at him as he tried to break free from his chains.

"Stop the call! I mean it! Leave her out of this!" Yet even though he kept on howling, the chains still brought him back to his place, as he then gave up and knelt down with his head low.

"Motoko, please get my signal; don't come to me." He shut his eyes tightly as he squeezed his fists. But then released himself and fell flat to the floor.


	24. True Affections

**True Affections**

Motoko then felt awoken by a sudden rush of wind through her hair. She looked up and realized what has happened.

"Sasuke's in trouble!" She gasped.

"Ashitaka wake up! Wake up!" San shook Ashitaka from the floor as he then opened his eyes slowly to see San holding him.

"San…where's Sasuke?" Ashitaka suddenly rose from the floor and gripped hold of San.

"I don't know, I though he was with you."

"He was until he ran off." San then helped Ashitaka up from the floor and started to stutter.

"We have to find him."

"Right; where's Motoko?" San then looked around the house and found that she was no where in sight.

"She's gone." San quickened her voice; as they then ran off out from the house in a hurry, with suddenly Kaya and San's wolf brother flowing from behind.

"Kaya stay in the house!" Ashitaka ordered behind.

"I'm coming!" Kaya argued back.

"I said stay!"

"I'm coming!" And eventually he let them both follow them; after all, Kaya has San's brother to be protected by.

Motoko became lost in the forest when she tried to find Sasuke. She knew that he was incapable of staying put so she knew that he would be missing. Plus…her feelings for him have suddenly bloomed out from its shell, and showed her that she might, just might…be in love with him. Sweat began to drip from her forehead as she panted in and out for breath. But the she stumbled and fell over a tree root; grazing her knees a little.

"Oh! Itai…!"

ouch…!-

But then when she tried to stand herself back up again, she felt a soft blade touching the skin on her neck, and also the boisterous breathing coming from behind her.

"Don't move! Or I will cut your throat!" A stranger said from behind. "Now, just stand up…nice and slow." Motoko obeyed his orders, and gradually brought herself to her feet.

"Who are you?" Motoko demanded.

"My master wants to see you in Irontown." She sighed a little as she was tied with her wrists together by rope, and the stranger in black kept pushing her to make way to Irontown.

"Motoko, whatever you do; don't come." Sasuke whispered to himself as he prayed to stop Motoko from coming to Irontown. Then two Samurais approached him with their pounding footsteps.

"Alright you insolent dog; shut up and stay that way." One of them said with the other holding a ragged sack big enough to fit a person in.

"Or else?" Sasuke challenged him.

"Or else you don't want to know." The samurai threatened him. But Sasuke suddenly chuckled a little, as then the soldiers looked at each other in puzzlement. Suddenly Sasuke sliced the Samurai's head off with a slash of his vector. The blood spat out a little, and then the body fell with its departed head rolling out of the room Sasuke's held hostage in. The remaining soldier looked in fear at the monster sitting in front of him; he then dropped the sack and struggled to get out his sword.

"That's enough!" Shouted a voice from behind him, then Keirtoro came walking in. "Can't you even bag an immortal- or a freak…" Sasuke glared at him with rage and disgust. "…when he's chained up?"

"B-B-But sir…!"

"Just shut up and leave it to me!" he spat out.

"Y-Yes sir!" the soldier quivered and ran out of the room in a hurry. Keirtoro then looked down at Sasuke, as his eyes slowly turned from cool blue, to blood red. Sasuke then choked, as he couldn't puff out another breath, he then clutched onto his throat, and started to rise from the ground. His eyes grew small, and his face painted pale, until then he loss consciousness and fell back down again.

"Fool." Keirtoro spoke quietly, as he prepared Sasuke's cataleptic body into the sack.

"Do you have any idea where she went, San?" Ashitaka panicked as he kept running.

"I don't know!" San shrieked back, but she then tripped over the same tree root that tripped Motoko up. San landed her chin on the ground as she grunted with the collapse. Then when she opened her eyes, she saw a small bubble of blood on the ground, along with a tiny piece of ripped cloth of scarlet. She gasped a little, and looked behind her and saw footprints leading in another direction.

"Ashitaka!" she cried out, as then Ashitaka came running back to her.

"What is it San?"

"I know where Motoko's gone."

"Where?"

Motoko then entered the broken gates of Irontown with the black stranger grasping hold of her wrists. She began to struggle a little to be let free from his grip. And then she saw Keirtoro in front of her with a filled up sack, along with Asano and his samurai.

"Ah, here she is." Keirtoro groaned out. Motoko then broke free from the man behind her and sprinted to him, but was then took hold from behind. "It's okay; you can let her go." So the stranger did, as then Motoko just glared at him sternly.

"What exactly is going on here, Keirtoro?" She demanded.

"Oh, absolutely nothing."

"Don't talk bullshit with me!" Motoko bellowed out when her temper started to grow impatient. Keirtoro then sighed at her and turned away.

"I want the wolf girl come to me, and I need your help."

"Why should I help you?! She doesn't own the body of Sakura!"

"Really? She did stutter when I called out the name." Motoko then grunted and looked away.

"Why do you want to bring her back?" Keirtoro looked at her again.

"You humans have always been the fracture of this world; everything you create you destroy with, and end up with nothing at all. And what's worse as that you kill your own kind for your own cravings. I didn't know why I came here until I myself found the underworld, and came back here with other spirits running through my veins. But now I have found my purpose; I will bring in a new world where Gods and Demons will rule the earth once more, by destroying yours."

"So you hate all humans, and you will annihilate us to save the animals of the forest."

"No." Keirtoro shook his head. "Your Gods and Demons will not be spared. They have embarrassed themselves by coexisting with you; they have shown themselves as nothing but slaves."

"That is not true! Humans and Beasts have lived in harmony before you were born into this world, and they will live together after you are gone."

"Me, gone?" He then leaped out a heap of laughter until his belly went sore. "You pitiful girl, the demons of the shadows live within me." He then showed Motoko the scar of the demon curse which he unwrapped from his left arm. Motoko gasped at it for the moment.

"That is not a sign of immortality, it's a precursor of death."

"Oh, you must be mistaken. Because this curse is not the one you are familiar with, the demons live among me and this is a sign of it, and when I accomplish the return of Sakura, her soul will help me bring this world to an end."

"Are you blind?! Do you know why she was sent to the underworld? Is to stop her from causing an apocalypse here; she will bring you hell if she is returned."

"Then hell it is then; a wonderful world for my superiors to live in." He cynically sniggered behind his back.

"And what happens if you don't accomplish your goals?" Keirtoro grew pale and stiff when Motoko asked that question, and stared at her viciously, with his ruby eyes.

"I will not fail! You will bring the princess to me! Or else I have someone here would like to meet you." Keirtoro then dragged the sack over to where he was standing; it then began to move when then Motoko grew cautious to what was inside it. Keirtoro slowly opened it, and then dragged out Sasuke with his hands tied and a rag to cover his mouth from speaking. Motoko grew pale when she saw the unstable Sasuke trying to maneuver his way out.

"I believe you know Kira, Has he befriended with you along your little voyage here?" Sasuke looked at Motoko deeply and shook his head timidly, Motoko took it as a sign from him and did the same, only more openly. Keirtoro then let out a scimitar, when then Motoko knew that if he strikes Sasuke deeply in the heart, he will be immediately killed.

"Then I guess there's no use for him anymore." Keirtoro raised the dagger and started to draw it down on Sasuke.

"NO!" Motoko screamed out and then covered her mouth with her hands. Sasuke glanced at her with shock and silence.

"No? Why? Why didn't she let me go? Unless…she is…" Sasuke thought to himself and realized her true affections towards him. Keirtoro then smiled darkly and walked in the direction of Motoko.

"So…you do have feelings for him. Is it love?" Motoko turned her face away from him and sighed. "My God! The hunter is in love with the Kira!" He then began to laugh, which chained Asano to chortle, and the other samurais to follow the same. Sasuke looked down with guilt and sorrow; he never really had anyone who fell in love with him. Before his life as a murderer and immortal, he always wanted to search for the perfect woman for him to share his life with and to bear a child with him together. And after he was betrayed and turned away from being human, no one thought that he wasn't infectious or still the same person he was before. But now, right there, a woman who tried to kill him for her life as a bounty seeker, had actually become infatuated with him, as so did he to her. Ever since he saw her one time and demanded at him to surrender, he did surrender to her intimacy and seductive beauty, yet it came with force and anger, it was hard for him to show it to her. So he treated her the same; "Stay away and you won't get hurt.", and with everyone else who stepped forward, was immediately killed, but with Motoko, he couldn't do it; he was in fact, in love with her.

"What such disgust!" Asano spat out. "Just kill them both Keirtoro! They'll never bring you the wolf girl."

"You think so?" Keirtoro looked back at him.

"I know so." Asano answered back.

"Fine." Keirtoro then rose out his hand and clenched his fist. Motoko then felt like she was getting choked; her eyes turned small, her face turned pastel, and she tried to wheeze in a breath of air to live. Sasuke looked at what was happening to Motoko, and jumped out from the sack, but was too easily spotted by Asano.

"Stop him!" the samurais all at once bounded onto Sasuke as they piled up on top of him. Sasuke then harshly struggled to break free.

"Let her go!" Sasuke growled out.

"If you don't bring the girl to me, I will kill you lover!" Sasuke thrash about to escape from his prison, and then let out an enormous fountain of blood, as the limbs scattered away from him, Sasuke ran towards Keirtoro and thrashed him to one side to stop Motoko from getting killed. Motoko grew white, and fainted to the floor. But then, as Motoko fell with the broken gate in the vision of Sasuke, he saw Ashitaka running in towards him, and saw the body of Motoko fell.


	25. A Token of Wrath

**A Token of Wrath **

"Motoko!" Ashitaka yelled out at her aid, with Sasuke gasping at him with shock. Ashitaka ran to Motoko and gently picked up her body with her head upon his chest.

"What's happening here?" He lowly asked.

"Tell San to not come." Motoko whispered weakly at him, as Ashitaka then looked down at her with confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean San is-

But then San came running in to help Ashitaka.

"Ashitaka!" cried out San as she sprinted towards him.

"Is it her?" Keirtoro questioned. San then slipped over the pool of blood and spread across her clothes.

"San!" Sasuke shouted out. "San run!" San picked herself back up again and saw the blood drool over her dress.

"What is this? What's happened here?" She then felt a movement within her that made her hurl a little. "Something's…moving inside of me!" Keirtoro then shoved Sasuke violently aside.

"The blood is bringing her back memories when she was young; Sakura, give her your powers." He ordered himself, and then there was a slithering movement within himself.

"Finally." A woman whispered within Keirtoro, as he then heaved out some small amount of blood from him, and a gale of wind came charging towards San. It stroked her heavily, as San then fell backwards and the samurais behind her took hold of her.

"San!" Ashitaka then ran towards her when then he was took grasped hold too of the samurais.

"Let me go! Let me go now!" He screeched out as the samurais weighed him down to the stop where he was struggling to escape from, with San moving around viciously like something's taking control of her.

"Something's…moving…inside of me…stop it!" she howled out with anguish.

"Shut up!" the samurai holding her still then punched her in the face with blood shooting out from her. Ashitaka saw what happened and shoved some of the samurais to one side and tried to run to her, but more just kept running in.

"How dare you touch her! Let me go!! San! SAN!!" Ashitaka bellowed out with the samurais piling on top of him, with San hanging her head low and her body left numb.

"I told you to stop it…" Keirtoro, Motoko, Sasuke and Ashitaka stared at her. Keirtoro smiled a little.

"It's working."

"No San…don't!" Sasuke whispered with fear.

"Let her go!" as so did Motoko.

"San?" Ashitaka called out for her quietly.

"…I told you to stop it…but you just WON'T LISTEN!!" As San screamed out those words, the Samurai's body suddenly became obliterated and exploded with blood and organs flying through the skies. Ashitaka gasped at her as she rose back up gently with her head low. Then, some purple lucent snakes came from behind her back, and slashed through the samurais holding Ashitaka down. She began to slowly walk pass Ashitaka with darkness smeared across her face.

Ashitaka still stared at Sasuke when his breathing quickened and became more ragged.

"San?"

"We should take her in now! Sakura is not entirely here yet!" Asano howled out as San walked across the samurai's remains. "What? Does she want to be taken in?" The snakes then slammed themselves onto the ground; embossing a mark of their bodies onto it, as then San levitated into the sky. "She jumped?" San was then soaring over the people, and somersaulted back down with the snakes holding her upright. She then looked up and saw Keirtoro. Sudden reflections started to flicker in her head. She saw a man holding a boy of thirteen years; he shoved him to one side and was then shot down through the heart. She saw the boy's eyes crying out as he screamed with pain and fright; she then became to recognize his face.

"Was that…Ashitaka's father who was killed?" San questioned herself, as then more samurais came charging in with their bows and arrows whilst they prepared themselves.

"Remember men; don't kill her, just knock her out!" The spears of arrows started to fly across the sky but neither one touched the skin of San's; they were then crushed into dust with the help of her snakes. She then rose into the sky, and drove herself down into the group of samurais, as they then became frantic with her surroundings.

"Aren't you gonna knock me out?" San asked in a sinister way, as she slashed one of the samurais down like meat. The others began to panic, when then one of them tried to get hold of their sword.

"You monster!" He shrieked out, but was then smothered and crushed by San's grasp, as she then began to attack all of her surroundings. Sasuke slowly crawled up to Motoko and carried her in his arms.

"Ashitaka!" He cried out, but the young prince looked at the horror that his love crush was making.

"It-it can't be her! It just can't be! She's…the one!" He whispered in terror, as then Sasuke grabbed hold of him.

"Ashitaka, get down!" He flung him to the floor.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!"  
"No! The girl you are seeing is not San!" Ashitaka then looked at San once more and realized that she can't be capable for making this much death, can she? Asano the crept out of San's way as she finished her killing spree, and then she whispered a name in order for him to come.

"Ashitaka."


	26. Lost

**Lost**

Ashitaka slowly released himself from Sasuke's grasp and walked towards San.

"Ashitaka no!" "  
"It's alright Sasuke; I know what I'm doing." He reassured Sasuke, and resumed walking up to San, but stop at a quite far off distance, as the two humans stared into each other's eyes. "I…I thought I knew…but know I do…you were cursed too weren't you?" Then wind brushed pass San's face as it swept her hair into her face. She then slowly walked up to him, but Ashitaka still stayed put. He saw her face grew darker, the smile that what use to be there, then mutated into a horrid frown, but when she finally stopped, he saw something that was nonetheless the same; her eyes were still grey and innocent. Ashitaka breathed in deeply as they looked at each other intently.

"Please…tell me…did you bear the curse too?"

"What does it matter to you? It's none of your business." San sneered at him and looked away.

"It is!" Ashitaka heavily stated, which made San look at him strangely. "Of course it is!" He cried out once more and sighed. "Why…why didn't you tell me this before? Is it because you're afraid that I wouldn't lo-

He saw the expression on San's face, it was shadowy, but sad, so sad it made Ashitaka want to cry a little; he still couldn't' bring himself up to say "I love you" to her. But then he flung himself on top of San when then a gunshot nearly hit her. They rolled round in each other's arms until they came to a stop with Ashitaka still on top of her.

"Ashitaka!" She gasped into each other's eyes and they both started to blush. But they then looked at Asano with a gun in his hands, and he then pulled out a young girl in a pink kimono.

"Kaya!" they both inhaled.

"Ashitaka! San help me!" Ashitaka then rose up from San and began to run towards Kaya, but stopped in his tracks when Asano pointed the gun to her head.

"Ah, careful Emishi." Ashitaka growled at him when he stepped back. "Now give me the wolf girl." But then Asano's head departed from his body as the blood soared away from his arteries; leaving Kaya to escape. Ashitaka turned round and saw one of San's vectors tore Asano's head off.

"That's why I didn't want to tell you; because you would think of me as a monster." San trembled a little.

"San, that is not true." He ran back to her and held her up. "You are who you are and I love you for that!" San then gasp at him with a small sense of light.

"What did you say?" San asked him frantically.

"I said I…" Ashitaka stuttered at that moment, but then disrupted by Keirtoro and his remaining men. They encircled them both in a corner as Ashitaka clutched San close to his heart.

"We can't let the boy escape with Princess Mononoke." Keirtoro embarked.

"Then what shall we do?" asked one of the soldiers.

"Waste him!" They then let loose their bullets from their guns and fired at Ashitaka, but neither bullet touched him.

"It's alright Ashitaka." He then looked down at San and then saw the bullets levitating stilly. They then slowly dropped and then the desecrated limbs and intestines started to float, and were then thrown at the soldiers as they backed away in terror.

"Damn it! I can't let the girl runaway with those powers." Keirtoro cursed and then looked at one samurai. "Fire the Emishi in the head."

"Right." The soldier then sneakily went round the back unnoticed.

"Ashitaka, there's something you should know." San looked at him quite tearfully.

"What is it?"

"It's about your father." Ashitaka then looked at her with confusion.

"What about my father?"

"The man who murdered him is…" She then looked behind her and saw the soldier pointing the gun at Ashitaka. But then, she pushed him away from her, and then suddenly…

BANG!

…a gunshot was fired. Ashitaka watched San collapse to the floor, as gasped a little looking down at her. Her blood spilled to the floor from her head, she then looked pale, and there was no movement in her eyes. She was, in fact, dead.

Ashitaka heart thumped faster, his breathing stopped for a moment, and his eyes grew small and withered to what he saw.

"AAAARRRRGGHH!!" He screamed out, as he plummeted to the floor and held the frozen San in his arms and shook her. "Wake up! Please wake up! You can't leave me here on my own!" He shivered and shook with horror.

"Idiot! What have you done?!" Another samurai shouted at him.

"It was her fault! She got in the way!" the one who shot San argued back.

Actually he's a genius!" Keirtoro chuckled with glee. The others looked puzzled to what he had just said. "I'll tell you later."

Ashitaka then flicked his head up to the sky with tears running down his face.

"What's the matter with me?! I can't even save a girl in my arms!" Then a gunshot was fired once more; it didn't hit Ashitaka but it did slit his cheek a little.

"Give up the body now." Keirtoro ordered.

"Why?!" Ashitaka turned to him with anger and torment on his face. "She is no use to you anymore!"

"She still is!" Then another gash of wind swept past. Ashitaka couldn't feel the touch of San at that point, so he looked down, but San wasn't anymore. He turned back to Keirtoro to see San in his arms instead of his.

"Give her back!" he cried out.

"I afraid I can't do that." Keirtoro replied coolly. Ashitaka growled at him and tried to attack him, but stopped at Keirtoro pointed the gun to his head.

"After you've seen her death, are you willing to see yours?" Ashitaka choked with his tears still pouring down. "Sorry boy; but you got to die." But then there was a huge explosion coming from the other side as it created a sandstorm around them. Ashitaka was left alone in this mud-colored fog, but was then fallen into the vectors of Sasuke as he was pulled away from where he was standing, and into his arms.

"Let me go! I need to save San!"  
"No, not now!" Ashitaka began to move around violently as he, Sasuke and Motoko were forced to leave Irontown with haste. The sandstorm then cooled down as Keirtoro saw that Ashitaka was gone.

"Dammit! He's gone; all of them are!" one samurai cursed.

"They will be back, and when they are, I'll be ready." Keirtoro chuckled as he and the others lead back inside the forge with San in his arms.

The other three managed to get back to their house, and panted heavily for air as they escaped from Keirtoro and his grasp. Sasuke still had Ashitaka wrapped round his arm and looked down upon him.

"Are you alright?" Ashitaka then harshly shoved Sasuke to one side, ran away from him until he stumbled from about a meter from him, and vomited aggressively until he choked on his own blood.

"Ashitaka that's enough!" Sasuke ran to him and rubbed his back.

"We need to get inside; it's not safe out here." Motoko spoke out to them, as then Sasuke brought up Ashitaka's broken body into the house and slid the door shut.

"She's gone Sasuke." Ashitaka silently whispered to him.

"I'm sorry." Ashitaka then threw Sasuke to one side and growled at hi viciously.

"No you're not! You just feel sorry for yourself!" Sasuke then turned his expressions to guilt and looked at Ashitaka with sympathy.

"Ashitaka…"  
"No! I said we should get back, but you ran away with me liked a coward!"  
"Ashitaka, we were outnumbered; we wouldn't have stood a chance." Motoko intervened.

"You all just care for yourselves! You care nothing for others! So just LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Ashitaka ran out of the house and collapsed again, veiling his face with tears as the rain began to pour down on a dark sundown.

"We should leave him for a bit." Sasuke softly spoke to Motoko.

"Will he be okay?"  
"I don't think so."


	27. Mind Rape

**Mind Rape**

Ashitaka was still standing out in the rain, with the tears from the sky merged with the tears shed from his eyes. His skin turned white as snow, and his eyes were sore and scared, and his lips trembled with depression as the water shimmered from his skin.

"Why must this happen? Why?" He whispered himself.

_Because life isn't fair…_

A voice so much like Ashitaka's had suddenly occurred into his head.

"Life? You make it sound like it has no meaning anymore." Ashitaka replied back, as then his vision turned into a depressing blue lair, and the breathing of a stranger running down his neck.

_You should know by now; life is never balanced, setting your late curse as an example. You saved your village from a demon, and in return you inherited the curse and were then thrown out by your own kin. _

"But then I met San."

_Yet she's dead._

Ashitaka quivered and winced from this mysterious voice. "Who are you?"

_Look at me then…_

Ashitaka turned to him, and couldn't believe what he saw. The stranger was the exact appearance as Ashitaka, but with the curse still rotting his flesh, as the bruises of black and purple spread across his face, his limbs; everywhere. With his dark sleeves and dirty trousers on, and his hair became bleached with filth, and his eyes became red.

…_I'm the dark side of you Ashitaka._

"No…no you are not me!" Ashitaka snarled back.

_Everyone must have a sinister side to their persona, Ashitaka…me being one of them._

"Just go away!" he hissed at his doppelganger, and stomped back into the house; slamming the slide behind him and shook off some of the rain that shone down him. Sasuke and Motoko weren't anywhere to be seen, but Ashitaka remained frantic and paranoid.

_That's right Ashitaka; suppress me until you couldn't anymore. Is that how you live with yourself? _

"Go away now!" Ashitaka snapped at him.

_Don't start that again!_ The darker side of Ashitaka growled as his eyes grew small.

"Leave me!" Ashitaka scarily implored once more.

_Don't…say that! _Ashitaka's vision turned immediately into dark scenery with all of his surroundings turning black. The snakes of hate emerged from the shadows and lashed themselves upon Ashitaka as he jerked backwards. Then his imaginary nightmare of a demon came floating towards him, and sopped at a very close distance leaning his body towards him.

_Why should I take orders from a human?! _He growled at Ashitakaas he clenched his fists. And then started to punch him fiercely in the stomach. _"You're nothing but __a mere human who has no guts!"_ he then hit Ashitaka so hard it made him cringe with his arms wrapped round his abdomen.

"_And…there will be nothing that stands in my way…"_ the dark side out Ashitaka then gripped onto his throat. But then Ashitaka felt his touch fade away, and then came before him was a dark blue mist; it floated into his way, as they then shape shifted into blank figures of humans, brushing pass him. Ashitaka started to breathe more heavily and the humans with blank faces pushed him even harder. Then sweat began to drip from his body, he felt a cold chill run down his spine, and tension began to build tension in his veins.

"Stop. Stop it!" He whispered to the crowd, but it was as if his plea couldn't be heard. The thrusts turned more violent as they then literally drove him backwards. Then another, but bigger figure, slowly came up to him, and then suffocated him by crushing his body gradually. "No! Stop! Please stop! PLEEEEEAAAAAAASSSEEE!!" his scream echoed with the distant perimeter of his mentality

He then saw himself walking along with San; feeling the rough yet tender touch of her hand. They were walking along a beautiful pathway of flowers with trees filled with sakura with their petals gently descending from their stems. He also saw Motoko and Sasuke upfront with the white sky enlightening their road. But then Ashitaka felt San's touch die away, as he stopped walking, and let San carried on to the others. He then looked down at Sasuke who gave him a quite sinister look. Ashitaka looked puzzled by his appearance, and then looked up at the innocent sakura. But then…their pigment started to change color, the pinkness turned darker, and it started to flow around like liquid, the color then immediately changed to blood red, and it started to spread like wild fire; infecting the pure innocence of it and mutating it into bloodlust horror and deceptive paranoia. Suddenly Ashitaka's eyes broadened, his fists clenched, and he gritted his teeth intensely. He then gripped his head with both hands and screamed so powerfully and ear-achingly. It was a siren that shook his world to pieces.

"STOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT!!" Then images of his recent memories; his fights with Sasuke, the dreams of his father's murder, the watch of San's death. Then he she's himself acting of violent, animalistic fury; slamming the slide doors, punching walls until his fists bleed, and crying heavily as he still screamed and screamed.

"WHY MUST THIS HAPPEN TO ME?! EVERYTHING IS STOLEN FROM ME! YOU TOOK AWAY MY LOVE! MY ALL! MY LIFE!!" He then saw his father shot a numerous amount of times and seeing himself at thirteen years of age, whilst more death-threatening whispers perverted him mind.

"Life is not fair."

"Nothing is equal."

"You are the least of this world."

"You are born to have nothing."

"YAMEROOOOOOOOOOUUUUU!!"

Stop!!

Then there was utter silence. Just a blur of depressing blue. Ashitaka sat on the floor naked with his knee brought up to his face as he clenched his hair, with his antagonizing demon standing in front of him.

"_Are you afraid?"_ Ashitaka refused to answer. _"Are you lonely?"_ He then reached out his hand to touch him.

"NO!" Ashitaka shrieked back, when then the demon's hand exploded along with his body like a burst light bulb, and the blood evaporated into red powder, as it sprinkled along the floor.

"_But you are alone; you have no one to comfort you know."_ His doppelganger smirked at him.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Ashitaka withered out.

"_You have been repressing me since you were lifted of the curse. You have created me; so you should bear me."_

"I do not bear hate!" Ashitaka snarled back.

"_You say you want life to be equal; that means you should be as well."_ Ashitaka then came to his senses a little, and looked up at his demon.

"You're right, but I can only use it in small amounts, otherwise it spreads like wild fire and you can't control it. That's what happened to Sasuke; his demon took over him too much, and he can't stand it anymore; that's what drove him to kill."

"_You're bright young man Ashitaka, but intelligence that whispers through cages loses their charm."_ His demon replied with such cynics.

"Then that means…you're not me…"

"_What?"_ the demon lowered his voice and looked down at him.

"I created my own hate, not inherited by Nago's curse, which implies…that you're just another demon trapped inside me!" Ashitaka lightened only by the slightest. But then the demon clutched his throat tightly, as his eyes turned red and furious.

"_My blood runs through veins because of you! I will not leave your side until I get a new body; to replace the one you destroyed! And when Sakura returns to your human world, our souls with join and become the apocalypse of your world!"_ Ashitaka struggled to speak.

"I won't…let that happen!"

"_With what; your dead girlfriend? And since you've woken me up a little, do you want to take a little trip down memory lane?"_ The demon then shoved Ashitaka to one side with his clothes somehow returned to his body; he stood once more in the arms of his father, as he then pushed him aside to save him, whilst he was the one who died from the shot taken from this mysterious black-coated assassin. The blood soaked into his kimono, but it then bubbled up together and stabbed into his hand; causing it to rupture and bleed. Ashitaka winced in pain, but then his hand automatically healed. But then his hand started to turn black, and it covered most parts of its skin; it was the late curse he had dreaded before, as it then spread through his whole arm.

"Aah! No…" Ashitaka panicked, he tried to scrub it off but the rotting already went below skin deep. "No! No!" He fretted more as the curse swelled throughout his whole body. "No! Stop! NOOOOOOOO!!"

"_Ashitaka!...Ashitaka!_...Ashitaka!!"

Sasuke was then shaking Ashitaka by the shoulders but he still cried out in horror. He still thought he was in his horrid nightmare that dreaded him to his wits end. But then Sasuke harshly slapped him across his cheek that caused a red mark on him.

"Wake up!" Ashitaka then was brought to a stand still, with his eyes still broad and his skin glowing white. He then tilted his eyes back and collapsed on Sasuke's shoulder. _"Kisama!" _

damn you

He then laid him down onto his back and laid a blanket over his sweaty cold body. He then rose up and saw Motoko looking blunt and poignant at the poor prince. "He was having a nightmare." Sasuke confirmed.

"Can you blame him?" Motoko weakly asked as she walked out of the room with Sasuke following her behind.


	28. Together or Not?

**Together or Not?**

Ashitaka was left in the room with a fur blanket covered up to his chest, and sweat off his tension as he sleeps in a blank dream. Sasuke on the other hand, walked out of the room where he saw Motoko with her arms and facing out of the window.

"Are you mad with me?" Sasuke asked with some confidence but little sound. Motoko then turned to him along with her face.

"Why?"

"Because…if I didn't ran off like that…and didn't trail you and the others along with me…then San would still be alive." She then turned her full body to Sasuke and drew a quite angry, but withered and weak façade.

"Some things are meant to happen; maybe San was one of them. But actions I sometimes see from you are quite irrational." Sasuke then huffed out a bit a breath and pulled a quite stern face at her.

"18 years I have been a subject of irrationality." He then started walking up to her firmly. "18 years I have killed a lot and saved very little." Motoko then tried to look away from her but Sasuke refused to read her body language. "So why, after 18 years of my life…aren't you dead?" Motoko then defiantly but softly looked at him in the face.

"You still have sentiment." Sasuke then twitched and stepped back a little. "Would you love me, if you just have a heart of stone?" Sasuke then sharply turned away from her and into the reflection of the moonlight within the midnight shadow that poured over the room.

"I do not…love you." He coldly hissed back. But then Motoko decided to confront the matter with him as she walked back to him.

"There were many things you once were…" She then got Sasuke to look at her with a softer look upon him. "…But never cruel." Sasuke then looked down at her with worry. "You have corrupted your purpose." Motoko spoke back in a firm tone. "And so yourself." She added the last bit, and then delicately reached out her hand to him. "And you have hidden away, what makes you once human." She then touched his chest where his heart was buried in, and then Sasuke gasped in a big heap of breath and panted out in little ragged spells. Motoko then couldn't realize what she saw of Sasuke; his hair was dark chocolate brown, his eyes were gleaming of hazel, and there were no stripes across his cheeks; just nothing but tanned smooth skin. Motoko then raised her hand higher and touched his cheek and felt the warmness of his hairless pelt, as Sasuke stuttered from the change.

"H-How…?"

"It must be you; your own magic maybe." Motoko replied. He then slowly raised his hand and stroked her cheek gently with his fingertips.

"Motoko, you…" Motoko then lifted her eyes towards him.

"You will be free, and when you are; I would give you my heart, and we would be together always…" She then let go of Sasuke, as he then began to return to his inhuman, and most hated appeared back again. "…If only you believed in love." Motoko finished her sentence. But then Sasuke returned his emotions of ignorance and neglect, as he then clutched onto her throat quite tightly. Motoko gasped in some amount of air before she ran out of it. "Why do you stay?" Motoko demanded. Then Sasuke loosened his anger, and gradually let go of her. But then he felt some slithering in his veins dues to his snakes of hate. He clenched his fists in order for them to go away, and then he clutched even more as he squinted eyes with more pressure. Motoko looked at his arm and see what he was trying to suppress. Sasuke then looked at Motoko, with quite an alarming look, and then back her up against a wall behind her as she looked at him with a bit of worry.

"And if I say I do love you…what would be your reaction?"

"I don't know." Motoko firmly stated him, Sasuke then let Motoko pass and let her lean her body against an open window with the moonshine gleaming down on them. "I guess the only way to find out, is if you stop hiding now!" She quite loudly spoke back. Sasuke sighed melancholy and opened the slide in front of him to let himself out, but Motoko stopped him as she turned back to him.

"So are we together or not…Sasuke?" Sasuke then looked at her from behind.

"My heart will always belong to you." He quite poignantly spoke back; Motoko then smiled a little and resumed watching the night sky flourish in the air, as Sasuke walked out of the house. Motoko then heard grunts coming from Ashitaka's room. She assumed that it would be another bad dream, so she quietly walked into his room, and saw his body sweat intensely, and moan worryingly as he slept restless.


	29. Childhood Horror

**Childhood Horror**

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Ashitaka whispered out in his dreams.

"Ashitaka…" Motoko cooed out as she caressed his shoulder gently, and felt the heat burning inside of him. She then softly took of his kimono, leaving his chest bare with his sleeves on. But the tension and quivering shook her a little, and she then leaned in closer to his face, trying to see what was going through his head…just trying to see…what was going on…

He saw himself in a dark room; the light was dimmed and the sky was night. His hair was swayed back and his clothes were shadowed with navy and brown. There was a tall male figure standing over him; with a light blue kimono and navy blue sleeves on. His hands were wrapped around Ashitaka's shoulders and held him close. There were also men in animalistic armor on, with helmets of monsters printed on them, and their scaly pads sewn onto their shoulders and knees. There was then a man; but with no identity to show himself to Ashitaka or the man standing over him, nothing but evil shadow. The shadow then lifted up a piece of iron, shaped into the size of a pistol, he then clicked it to make it load; he felt the tension of the man's hands as he gripped him tighter. And then, he pushed Ashitaka to one side, but then…BANG!

A bullet was fired, and the man fell to the floor, with a hole through his heart. Ashitaka then broadened his eyes and grew pale in the face. He quivered ever so slightly, and then shook madly as he then looked at the murderer.

"STOP IT!" he screamed at him with tears running down his face, but then one of the samurais drew out their gun and shot a bullet that slide through his left shoulder. The samurai was then shot through the head as the shadow pierced it. He fell but the others just let him die. The dead body of Ashitaka's protector then rose from ground with something hanging him through his arms. The shadow then glowed red with blood, and then somehow, the body was then shredded to pieces, gushing out fountains of blood that speared and spat across Ashitaka's face and body which merged in with his tears and sweat. His eyes turned wide again, but his voice stunned still without a singe sound. The shadow then looked down upon him, and smirked. He then walked away sharply with the samurais following him like sheep. Ashitaka looked at the herd turn away from him; his eyes then suddenly turned from innocent and scarred, into aggressive rage and savage unmerciful odium. And then a scream havocked inside his head as it keeps screaming to stop…and stop…and stop…

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPP!!"

"AAAHHH!!" Ashitaka yelled out as he burst out from his dreams, and lifted himself into Motoko's arms.

"Shhhh…its okay Ashitaka…" Motoko calmly cooed to him gently, as she felt his hair and stroke his back with warmth. Ashitaka still kept on breathing out ragged air from his lungs and kept his eyes broadened.

"Motoko…you…"

"Tell me what you've dreamt." Ashitaka gulped a little and sighed.

"It was my childhood. I was in a room with shadows overcoming me with only one man protecting; my father." Motoko then turned her eyes to him. "He tried to save me, but he fell; murdered…by an assassin."

"Do you know who?"

"No. His face and body was not identified, nothing but shadow. I didn't know why my father had to be killed. I still don't know now. I was thirteen…when I saw his fate."

"What about you're mother?" Ashitaka took a slight pause for a moment.

"She died giving birth to me."

"Then, your sister…"

"We adopted her when we found her half-dead in our village when she was Kaya's age. I promised my father and myself to protect my family to whatever length. But with my father slain, me having to be exiled, and to watch San die…I'm just a failure as a man."  
"Ashitaka…no one is a failure in anything; even you said that to me. It will be hard at first, but then you will see the difference to listen to your destiny, and to listen to your heart; that is a choice we all must make." Ashitaka then sighed to himself, and then dropped a few tears.

"But Motoko, it's just…so unfair." He then dug his head into her shoulder, as Motoko then carried on caressing him with reassurance and meaning.

Sasuke watched outside through the window. He was dripping wet from a nocturnal bath in the hot springs, with his body nude and silent. He watched the two warriors hug each other in sentiment as his expressions turned quite melancholy.

"So…that's love." He lowly spoke to himself. "Everyone has it…even me?" Sasuke then looked down upon himself with a bit of sadness within him, and dried his body off with a towel.


	30. Still Alive!

**Still Alive!**

The sun rose up in a frail yellow daylight, with the lilac field above the sky fading into light blue. Ashitaka woke up early again and looked out to the scenery; the pool where he played with San, the forest where he refused to let her go, the ocean where he nearly kissed her for the first true time. He sighed for a moment and closed his eyes slowly.

"ASHITAKA!" A woman's voice screamed out. Ashitaka then opened his eyes to the landscape and quivered a little. _"TASUKETE!!"_ she shrieked out once more.

"San?" Ashitaka whispered.

"I'm still alive…"

"No…no you're dead. I saw you die!"

"I didn't die…I'm just trapped…" Ashitaka then felt a gush of wind collided with his body. He shook a little as the gale swept him hard that made him fall to the ground. Then another airstreamcame rushing to him once more, but stopped close to his face. The collections of leaves and petals encircled him like a small parade of bliss. He stared deeply into the pink mist, as he began to become mesmerized by the azure ecstasy of this delight he was feeling.

"Remember Ashitaka; love is a powerful weapon, and will make you immortal in the soul, and will forever with the weapon in your heart…" He then felt a small peck on his cheek, as then the haze slowly disappeared into the air, and then a face of San came across to him; she was happy; her eyes were bright and her smile was warm. She wasn't the San that killed so many people in so little time. He gasped by her appearance. "You must save me; save me or Sakura will take over…"

"But how? Your soul is gone."

"My soul is still around but for only little time. Keirtoro plans to bring her back. You, and only you, can stop him. It's love that guides us to what we truly desire." The face then slowly faded away from his presence.

"Wait. Don't go!" he implored, but the wind faded away along with the others, leaving Ashitaka confused and shaken a little. A little sakura then landed into his palm softly, he looked upon it was sadness, but then he gulped a little and turned serious to the sunlight, and in doing so he clenched the flower.

Ashitaka then dashed back to the houses through the forest, and brushed through the bushes and into the presence of Motoko and Sasuke.

"She's still alive!" he pranced to them.

"What?"

"San is not dead! She's still alive!" Ashitaka ran up to them with delight on his face.

"Ashitaka…San died, she was shot remember." Sasuke reassured him.

"But, I remember; it all makes sense now. San was given Sakura's powers in Irontown, which makes her an immortal right, and they can't die…"

"…can't die with a single blow." Motoko finished his sentence. "He's right! San was shot through the head; not the heart. Do you know what this means? We can bring San back!"

"But Motoko, even though we bring her back, Sakura has hold of her body." Sasuke spoke back.

"But Sasuke…" Ashitaka intervened. "…San will fighter for control over it; she's not the type who gives up so easily."  
"Ashitaka Keirtoro has her hostage, and with his immense powers, San won't stand a chance."

"That's when we come in." Sasuke stuttered for a moment.

"Let him speak." Motoko silenced Sasuke.

"Keirtoro would still try to wake San's body up, right now at this very moment. San is only quite new to her powers so she would have to adapt with them for a bit which gives us time; time to break into Irontown and stop him once and for all."

"And what happens if Sakura comes back when we reach there?" Sasuke then walked up to Ashitaka.

"Then we send her back; the same way San had the courage to do it." Sasuke took a slightly long pause and looked away for a moment with disbelief, and then turned back sharply at Ashitaka.

"What are you doing Ashitaka?" Another long pause echoed the area.

"Listening to my heart." Ashitaka then looked at Motoko when he said those words, she then smiled back.

"He's right; we should fight back, if so, I'm in." Motoko stepped up. Sasuke then looked at them both and sighed a little.

"Count me in too." He added. The three brave warriors then looked at each other.

"Then it begins."


	31. The Game is On

**The Game is On **

Smoke came from the hills of Irontown, along with minions of slave samurais marching in and out of the town with a piece of weaponry attached to their arms. Keirtoro looked stern and irritated over head with his men rebuilding walls cut down from the trees of the forest; this would anger the remaining gods intensely. Then a soldier came up from behind.

"Sir, we have successfully created-

"Is she awake?" Keirtoro interrupted rudely.

"Well no but-

"Then why are you here?"

"I just thought-

He then turned around sharply and grabbed his armor.

"You don't think; you know! And I will not rest, until I know, that she has returned from her little nap!"

San was found lying still on the ground; her knees were brought quite close to her stomach, and her hands lapsed onto each other. Her eyes were closed softly but the blood on her clothes remained stained. Then, a hushed but hollow wind trickled her ear as she lay on her side. The wind flew by with small indistinctive whispers that couldn't b heard enough for another to hear. But then, miraculously, San opened her eyes gradually and looked into the darkened room she had slept in. She brought her head up a little as felt her nerves return to her, and she then resumed her silent breathing.

"…I'm still alive?"

Back over at the secret houses, Ashitaka, Sasuke and Motoko were both preparing themselves to redeem themselves from their last defeat against Keirtoro and his murderous army. Ashitaka's bow was stabbed into the ground a little, and filled with tied up strings to pull lethal arrows from; he was reframing it, trying to see which string throws the fastest and deadliest arrows he could unleash yet. He then let out some of his original stone arrows and tested them out against the bark of a tree. He raised his bow from the ground and placed an arrow with the sting, he pulled it back, and remained still for the moment, until he released the shot and fired it at the bark. He rose up another arrow, aimed it and fired. And then another, and fired. And fired, and fired, and fired once more. He made himself a little pattern upon the bark as some sort of bull's-eye shot. Ashitaka loosened the grip on his bow and then sighed a little to the ground; revealing a sad depressed look on him.

"Why do you still look discouraged Ashitaka?" He then turned around and saw Sasuke standing behind him.

"I don't know what they've done to San."

"True, but there are other things you need to take into account as well." Sasuke then walked up to Sasuke with a pair of sais in his hands. "Ashitaka, Keirtoro is more than human; you won't be able to defeat him with just your arrows. And if you do fight, you will be endangering your life." Ashitaka then looked down again and blinked slowly. He then looked down at the Sais Sasuke were holding.

"May I have a look at your sais?" Sasuke then flipped one of them with the blade carefully in his grip and the handle in front of Ashitaka. He then took hold of the sai; he saw a blue sapphire stone in the middle, with silver engravings of Japanese calligraphy. The weight of the rapier was as light as a feather, but the steel felt as strong as indestructible. Ashitaka lifted the sai into the air and flipped it backwards; he paused for a moment and flipped it back forwards, and tilted it from side to side. He then stopped and handed it back to Sasuke.

"My father use to teach me with this type of weaponry." Sasuke then smirked a little and smiled.

"Thanks." He then touched the handle but accidentally touched Ashitaka's hand. Then the smile upon Sasuke's face disappeared slowly; merging gradually into a horror scarce grimace. His eyes broadened and his iris' turned pale blue. He looked at Ashitaka's face, as he then saw him turn, and slashed a samurai down with his sword in anger. His face was quite bloody, and his eyes were blind with rage. He then howled out a warrior cry and ran behind him; running up to another two samurais and gritted his teeth.

"This the last one!!" he hollered out, and then held the samurai in front of him with his hand gripping his armor-plated shoulder, and forced his sword through the two of the soldiers; thrusting through the two of them at the same time. Ashitaka growled at them as the blood sprayed out from their organs, their bodies began to wither and die as Ashitaka kept pushing in further, and further. He then heard something behind his ear; he sharply turned around, and saw a strange light started to spear towards him. Ashitaka pulled the sword out harshly from the two dead samurais and aimed at the light. But then it stopped and levitated for the moment, it then transformed into a long narrow dagger, with a sapphire stone in the middle.

"Sasuke's sai?" Ashitaka questioned, and then the sai levitated closer, and closer to Ashitaka with a few inches. But then it dashed quickly to him; Ashitaka's eyes broadened and his blood turned pale. He tried to stop it, but the sai was then stabbed into his left eye.

"AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!" A scream soared out so painful it pierced Ashitaka's ears, as screeched out a shattering tone in his voice and collapsed to the floor. He managed to ripped the said out and threw it to one side, but the blood refused to pour out from his eye socket and drip onto his clothes. He still cried out excruciatingly with ache. His body wouldn't stop shuffling, and kept moving up and down on the ground, with his hand trying to cover his wounded eye. He then started whispering eerily as he clenched his muscles together to withhold the pain. "I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you…"

There was then a blurred figure above him, the shadow overtook his identity. Ashitaka then shakily raised his right hand towards it with his right eye broadened with throbbing of his wound. "I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you…" But then the blurred then raised a heavy metallic weapon, and then slashed it down upon Ashitaka.

"AAH!" Sasuke gasped in as the vision shook him.

"Sasuke what's wrong?" Ashitaka panicked a little.

"Nothing." Sasuke panted.

"You're not telling me something."

"I said nothing." Sasuke snapped back.

"Well fine then!" Ashitaka snarled at him and turned away. Sasuke still saw that Ashitaka had the suppressed anger inside him.

"Ashitaka…why do you cage your anger?" Ashitaka then looked up a little.

"Because bad things happen from them."

"Not if you stifle them." Ashitaka then turned back to Sasuke. "Repression is a dangerous thing Ashitaka; I held it once and killed someone close to me. I don't want that to happen to anyone else."

"What are you saying Sasuke?"

"I'm saying, release you hate; don't bear it." Sasuke then walked off with both his sais leaving Ashitaka to think a little.

"Release my hate."

It was nearly dusk, and the three warriors prepare themselves for their return to Irontown; Motoko had her daggers and pistols wrapped to her body, Ashitaka had his arrows, bow and sword at the ready, and Sasuke kept his sais hidden within his clothing. Sasuke then walked up to Motoko as she inclined her weapons to the ready, along with a sheathed samurai sword in his hand.

"Motoko." He called out to her softly.

"What is it Sasuke?" She then turned around to him, and then Sasuke rose up the sword to her.

"I want you to use this." Motoko then looked down at hr forbidden instrument and turned her face away from it.

"I can't."

"Do this for me, please." She then looked down upon the sword once more, and unconfidently looked back up at Sasuke. "And do this for your mother too; Eboshi will be proud of you to use it." Motoko gasped a little at him.

"You know?"

"Yes." She then slowly took hold of it with one hand, but then Sasuke placed his other hand on top of hers. "And please be care out there." Motoko stared at Sasuke with softness in her eyes and infatuation in Sasuke's. He clenched his hand a little as he refuse to let her go a little, but then he let her go to give her the sword that killed her father. However Motoko promised to use it for Sasuke and her mother; Lady Eboshi.

"Ashitaka." Sasuke then called out to him, as Ashitaka then rose his head up. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." He replied back, he then walked up to the other two and looked at them both. Then Kaya came in and saw the three warriors organized to rescue San.

"Kaya…" Motoko then knelt down to her level and place her hands on her shoulders. "You can't come with us this time; we have to save San on our own."

"I understand sister." Motoko then breathed in a little puff and watered her eyes a little. She then brought Kaya into her embrace and squeezed her tightly.

"Whatever happens, the wolf will always take care of you, and will raise you to be a good person. Do you understand?"

"I do." Kaya then squeezed her back as Sasuke and Ashitaka looked down at the two sisters saying their goodbyes.

"What were the last words you said to your sister?" Sasuke then asked Ashitaka when he then looked at him and sighed back. Ashitaka paused for a moment in despair.

"You know I will never forget you."

"Do you wish you can see her once more?"

"Always." They then looked at Motoko and Kaya once more as then brought their embrace to an end. Then Motoko saw the wolf outside of the house staring at Kaya.

"I want to the stay with the wolf; it's not safe here, you will live with him."

"Will I see you again Motoko?" Motoko wiped away the tears she shed a little and sighed.

"I hope so Kaya. I hope so." She gave her another quick hug and then brought her sister to San's brother. Kaya was then raised up and put upon his back with Motoko staring at the wolf's eyes. "Please take care of her. I know you are not fond of humans, but we will try our hardest to rescue San." The wolf did not reply back, but bowed his head to her, and then ran back into the forest. Motoko cried a little more but the dampened her snuffles away and slowly turned back to Ashitaka and Sasuke. "I'm ready." She looked down to hide her tears away from them both, but they walked up to her and embraced them in their remedies.

"It's okay Motoko, you will see her again." Ashitaka softly whispered to her.

"He's right, but we have to save San to save Kaya and everyone else.

"Yes." Motoko sniffled and looked back up with a serious face. She straightened herself out and stood upright.

"So…are we gonna go or not?" The three warriors then looked at one another and nodded.

"Let's go." Ashitaka stated.

"Wait!" Sasuke shouted out, and then Ashitaka came back and looked at him. "You will need this." He then handed him his red mask with the white markings on at the top.

"How did you find this?"

"In Irontown." He then handed him his mask as Ashitaka smiled a little.

"I'm sure your people will be round of you if you wear that with us." Motoko intervened, and then Ashitaka looked at her and gave her a cheerful smile and made him a bit rosy in his cheeks, he then put it on his head and straightened it out a little, and then they all ran out from the area of their homes and through the forest; on their way to rescue the vulnerable San turning into the unmerciful Sakura.


	32. The Return of Sakura

**The Return of Sakura **

San still remained sat on her spot when she realizes that she was all chained up by her wrists and ankles. Then a Keirtoro opened the door, she sharply backed away from him and tried to rip the chains from the ground to release herself.

"So you've woken up now; you must be a strong one."

"Stay away from me human!" San growled hastily at him.

"If's there's any word to describe me, it's not human." He scolded at her, and then walked slowly up to her as she tried to pull away even further. But then Keirtoro came close to her at a short distance. "And if there's a word to describe you it's not mortal…Sakura." San gasped heavily for the moment he said the name.

"My name's not Sakura."

"It is! You know it is!" He then clenched her chin with his thumb and brought her face closer to his. "Do you think that you have seen the last of her when you sent her to the underworld?"

"I've sent her there for a reason; she will destroy you all! Even if you make a deal with her, she won't compromise! But does a HUMAN know?" Keirtoro shoved her face back along with her body and pushed her against the wall with his arms obscuring her.

"That body doesn't belong to you, it belongs to Sakura."

"Then you're gonna have to try to get it off me then!" San snarled at him with her angry eyes.

"You're right." Keirtoro smirked at San leaving her puzzled and confused. "I'm gonna have to try." He then drew out a narrow blade and stabbed it into her forehead. San screeched out in pain as she flung her head backwards. And then flickers of blood and horror slammed into her mind with the pictures of Sakura butchering every human she could find. San then collapsed to her knees and was brought to a silence. A swift wind rushed pass her body when then Keirtoro peered slowly at San.

"Are you there Sakura?" But there was no answer; just San's head hung low not showing her face to her, with her wrists drooped up from behind, leaving her to dream in her nightmarish remedies…

The girl, Naru, was still wondering through the forest after she saw "Sakura" killing off the people she had just made company with. Her heart was racing madly and her sweat drops trickled from her forehead. She still ran, until she breached out into the open land. There was a lake there, with a small island up ahead along with a tapered tall tree in the middle. She still quivered and twitched with paroxysm from the horror she saw.

"Oh my God! Sakura killed all those people! How…how...how could she?!" She trembled as she tried to lie still against the bark of a tree. Then suddenly "San", came running in towards her.

"Naru! Stay still." She cried out, but her voice couldn't be heard. She stopped near Naru but she didn't look up. "Naru it's me."

"She can't hear you." A sinister voice came no too far away; it was Sakura's. San found her leaning on another tree with blood tainted on her clothes.

"Sakura, you have gone too far!"

"Why? Humans deserve to die."

"Not all of them! It's wrong to take your anger out on people you don't know."

"One day, everyone will turn on you."

"I order you to stop!" San tried to hit her, but then her hand went through her body and couldn't feel her skin. She then brought her hand away from her and gasped.

"Have you forgotten? You're not in your body; you're just a spirit, and in a few minutes or so you will disappear forever."

"No, no you can't let me go!"

"Watch me." Sakura then leaned up from the tree and turned her eyes to Naru. The twitching of the twigs made Naru turn slowly, and quivered when she saw those red ruby eyes of Sakura. She back away slowly and shook her hands timidly.

"Sakura…what…what a-are you doing here?" Sakura had her fringe covering one eye and the other covered in shadow.

"Liar." That was the only word that came out of Sakura's mouth. Then San faded behind her and stared angrily.

"Sakura, don't hurt her!" San pleaded to her, but Sakura refused to take it into account, leaving Naru to stay horrified at the façade of her.

"You liar." Sakura whispered out, and then a gush of wind came roaring pass through her.

"No!" San tried to push Sakura away, but her body just went though her and through Naru's as well; she grunted as she fell to the ground with the poor girl terrified for her life, then Naru ran up towards her and placed her hands on her shoulder.

"Sakura! Why did you kill all those people? Why? Why did you do it?!" Sakura then slapped her harshly across the cheek as Naru then looked back up at her. San growled with pain when she saw that.

"Stop it! Stop it now! If you hurt her, I will…I will…!" Naru looked at Sakura with anguish and hurt as she rubbed her cheek.

"Are you going to kill me too? Please, please don't kill me. Please don't kill me! I'm sorry!" But then a cascade of blood soared out from her body as it was then slashed in half. San's eyes broadened and her breathing stopped when she saw Naru's body fall. The first half fell to the ground, with her hair frizzy and her clothes all dirty. San's eyes still kept looking at Naru's as the sapphire blue turned to sick bottle cerulean. With no light in them, she died in an instance. San gritted her head forcefully and then screamed out in pain as she flicked her head up and gripped her hair.  
"Hey, I heard something!" a stranger came running pass, and saw the two halves of the body. "Oh my Go-

But his body flew off before he finished his sentence and rolled into the lake. San looked at the two dead people with fright, and turned sharply at Sakura.

"You…you killed them all." She quivered as she spoke. 'Why did you kill Naru?! She was my only friend!" The blood dripped from her clothes as Sakura then looked up with no emotion what so ever.

"What friend? The only fried had just betrayed you." San gasped with unbelief when she then cried down at the dead Naru. "Now come sister; we have lots to do." Sakura then walked away from her leaving San to shed tears over and over again. But then she ran towards Sakura, and managed to topple her over; ending up with her body on top of Sakura.

"Just go away!" San screamed at her, she then began to slam her shoulders against the ground over and over again, with Sakura looking up at her with distraught. "Go away! Go away! Go away! Go away! Just go away!" Sakura then started to cry to as she felt the verbal pain run though her veins. "Please just go away! Go away! Go away! GO AWAY!" The scenery then turned black. San rose up from the ground, with blood covering her clothes. She could feel her nerves again, and the smell of her pelt. She then realized what she done; she made Sakura go away. Then a twitch came from behind her, as she then turned sharply at the shadow behind her. Then came out an enormous white wolf with two amazing tails.

"Mother?!" San tremor.

"My human daughter." The wolf gasped as well, and then San got up and ran into her soft fur and hugged her.

"You were right; humans are horrible, they treated me differently from the others!" She cried out.

"Now you understand why you can't stay with them." San sniffled and squinted her eyes.

"I now know what to do with humans." San whispered gently.

"What is that?" Moro asked, and then there was silence in the forest. But then San's eyes widened with malice.

"Kill them all."

Back out of San's head, Keirtoro still looked down at the body of hers and still looked curious at her.

"San?" Keirtoro called but no answer. "San?" Still no answer. And then… "Sakura."

The her eyes widened with redness in them, and the chains shattered to pieces as she levitated into the air a little, and then stomped down to the ground. Keirtoro chuckled by what he saw.

"Finally." San looked up with rage in her eyes, as she was no longer San, but Sakura instead; she then smiled evilly and clenched her fists, as she whispered.

"I'm back."


	33. Releasing the Hate

**Releasing the Hate**

Sasuke then stopped and gasped into the atmosphere; he then began to get small little seizures that shook him.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Ashitaka then took hold of Sasuke as he quivered; he then began to breathe in deeply with paranoia. "Sasuke, has something happened?!"

"She's awake!" He whispered in fear.

"Sakura?!" Motoko exclaimed as she sharply turned to them both.

"There still must be a way to save her!"

"How, Ashitaka? We can't send her back with our normal powers! The only way is that we destroy her body!"

"No! We are not going to let San die too, there must be a way!" Motoko was then brought to her thinking caps as well as Ashitaka and Sasuke. Ashitaka stood upright and thought to himself.

"We can...destroy her soul."

"What?!" Sasuke and Motoko yelled out.

"That's right! We can remove Sakura from her body, and then San will take control once more."

"That's even harder than sending her back!" Sasuke argued back.

"It's much better to tear her soul apart than to send her back to the underworld; it's the only way to ensure that she won't come back at all!"

"Ashitaka…" Sasuke walked up to Ashitaka and shook him a little.

"You're talking about our fates here!"

"Look, someone has told me that there's a difference between listening to you destiny, and listening to you heart, well I'm listening to my heart!" Motoko then looked at Ashitaka with sentiment.

"Ashitaka…"

Then suddenly, some of the kodamas appeared through the bushes, with their translucent skin peering though.

"You will all listen to me." Ashitaka demanded as he walked over to a small hilltop. "Listen!" He then stopped at the peak. "Humanity will look down on all three of us; for them to lead. And what will they see? Three pathetic beings? No…no they will see free souls, and freedom! And Keirtoro will see; that from the strive we create and the rings of our blades he will know what we can do! No matter if we are hunters or killers, man or beast, or mortals or immortals…it can take only three of us…to take out three thousand of his!" Then the spirits roared out from the winds, and crowded round the brave prince. With Moro, Eboshi, and all of the other spirits who have died in vain, along with his father.

"The ghosts!" Motoko gasped.

"They're all with us." Sasuke answered.

"Everyone…" Ashitaka breathed out loudly, and then looked down upon Motoko and Sasuke, "…Listen to your hearts." Then all of the sudden, the ghosts have lost their bodily shapes and merged in with the wind, creating a powerful gale. It then swept Ashitaka, Motoko and Sasuke off their feet, and into the levitating skies. They saw the forest from down below and gasped at the amazing birds eye view.

"How are accomplishing this?!" Motoko exclaimed.

"It's the spirits Motoko! They're on our side helping us!" Ashitaka replied shouting back. They all still seemed amazed by this strange supernatural force driven willingly from the ghosts from the underworld.

"There it is!" Sasuke then spotted Irontown from down below, as then soared downward into the danger zone of Keirtoro and his remaining samurais.

"Sir!" A samurai then ran to Keirtoro behind him, when the macabre magician smirked with malice. "Sir, you called for me?"

"We need to escort our goddess to her new kingdom." They both then looked behind and saw the samurais making there way out from the way of "Sakura's" way; she didn't wear her white long top over her violet dress, instead she wore a fine fabricated gown that went just above her knees, with her short sleeves torn at the middle, there was also a black ribbon tied around her waist, and her pelt boots came just below her knees attached together with more ribbon, and the dress itself was a dark mauve color, which shows off her dark imaginations. But somehow she still had the crystal dagger embracing her chest; the necklace that Ashitaka gave to her as a sign of love.

"Are you prepared then?" Keirtoro asked as he walked up to her.

"You can tell your cronies to stop surrounding me." The samurais then backed away from Sakura when they gave her room to move forward.

"There are three people that will be coming here, one of them I specifically want you to kill; The Emishi prince."

"Ashitaka you mean?" She then looked down on the crystal dagger and stroked it gently and then looked at the samurais with their sheathed swords in place, and leered with spite. "This is going to be fun."

Ashitaka, Sasuke and Motoko all landed near Irontown; hiding against the walls. They all crowded together in one big huddle.

"How do we get there unnoticed?" Motoko asked. Ashitaka and the others struggled a little, but a kodama came by once more, and then the idea struck at Ashitaka.

A few moments later, he then stood in front of these newly designed gates and looked up.

"Keirtoro!" He called out in order for him to come. Apparently it worked, as Keirtoro then looked down from the balcony with a samurai by his side.

"Shall we kill him?" the samurai questioned.

"I'm here to talk Keirtoro; I want to join you!" Ashitaka shouted out.

"The brat could couldn't handle the big boys now? Hmm. bring him in, but tie him up." The gates then opened slowly, as then the samurais came and tied his hands with together with his wrists, he hastily and harshly brought him into Irontown. The gate was still left open, and then Keirtoro walked down towards him as Ashitaka stood in his spot. Then he noticed something odd about him; he was smiling, really darkly, as if he didn't care about being tied up. His wrists were close to his chest, and then his eyes started to turn from dark grey, to pale blue. Keirtoro started to fret.

"Shoot him! Shoot him in the heart!" The samurais clumsily got out their weapons, and then small translucent fritters came off from Ashitaka, as he then transformed as he flipped forwards into Sasuke. He immediately broke free from his chains, and then started to kick the samurais out of his way, leaving Ashitaka and Motoko to sneakily enter Irontown.

"Someone stop him!" Keirtoro barked out as Sasuke kept battering soldiers out of his way and leaped into the sky, and as he landed when he rolled, and unleashed his two sais and began to stab and slash. He then jumped into the sky and soared out of site. "Find him! Whatever it takes; find him!" Keirtoro snarled out once more, as the samurais came marching in order to capture the Kira.

Motoko and Ashitaka still remained unnoticed luckily.

"This is going quite well!" Motoko exclaimed as the both smiled a little whilst running, but the three quite large samurais came into their path.

"Split!" they both gasped, when then they both ran through different huts in order to confuse them.

Ashitaka was doing quite well at first, but then when he tried to reach the door, a bullet was fired at the door, and he turned around piercingly and looked at the other samurais; about ten or more.

"Looks like we've got an intruder, boys." One of the samurais smirked at Ashitaka.

"Please let me pass, and I won't kill you." He replied.

"Is that a threat?" The samurai then unsheathed his sword and slashed it pass Ashitaka, but he missed yet he made Ashitaka fell to the floor. "As I thought; you're just a repressed freak of a being." He then guffawed heavily, leaving Ashitaka to stare at the floor, he then thought about what Sasuke had said to him before.

"_Release you hate." _

Ashitaka's eyes then broadened and turned dark with hate at that moment, and then he rose up from the ground and hung the top of his mask low in front of his face.

"Oh, you want another round do you? Well then, I don't see why not." He then tried to thrust the sword into his face, but the Ashitaka then driven it away from him and came forward; dodging skillfully away from the blade. "You want a fight boy?" Ashitaka then drew away the top of his red mask; he exhaled as he bent down a little and gripped onto the handle of his sword. He then rushed pass as he unsheathed his sword, brushed it pass the samurai's sword and lacerated his shoulder. The soldier took a couple steps back and inhaled deeply; looking down at the cut sliced through him.  
"The bastard cut me!" The samurai screeched out, and then another soldier came forward, and uncased two swords at the ready. Ashitaka braced himself as they encircled each other for a moment. And then the samurai made the first strike but Ashitaka was took quick to hit, and then the dark prince managed to slash his neck as the blood drooled down onto his armor as he fell.

"Oh boy." The other two enhanced. Then Ashitaka turned around and saw the two quaked in fear a little. He smiled at them darkly but then they smirked back as Ashitaka then sharply looked behind him, and saw more samurais at the ready. Then turned his body round fully and charged at them with his sword ready, and hacked into every one of them as he dodged their blades and cut through their skins. He evaded them and pushed through their bodies with his rapier and thrust one of them out of the way. He then yelled out a warrior cry from behind and shoved his sword into another's stomach and rose it back out. He saw another and attacked another by axing his arm off and leaving him to fall. He then saw Sasuke came rushing pass into the hut he was in.

"Ashitaka!"

"Sasuke!" Ashitaka exclaimed back as he just finished off the last Samurai. He then thrashed its body onto another, and rushed towards them with fury. "This is the last one!" He pushed the soldiers back with the palm of his hand, and then forced his sword through both of their torsos. He growled at them angrily; exactly like Sasuke's vision before.

"Damn this man is annoying! This ought to shut him up!" Keirtoro cursed outside the hut, and then created this bolt of light within the palm of his hands, and thrived it towards Ashitaka. Ashitaka noticed the light coming his way, and then pulled out the sword and aimed it at the light; it then stopped, and transformed into one of Sasuke's sais.

"Sasuke's sai?" He questioned it, as it the levitated towards him. It then dashed to his eye. Ashitaka's eyes broadened, but then Sasuke pushed him out of the way, and the fake sai hit his eye instead of Ashitaka.

"AAAAAAAARRRGGHH!!" He cried out a hollow scream in agony.

"Sasuke are you alight?!"

"Don't worry; I'll heal!" Sasuke hollered back, as the blood drooled from his eyehole and splattered across the floor, when he pulled the sai out and threw it across the room. "Go! I will be fine! Find San and save her!" He shouted at Ashitaka.

"No! I won't leave you!"

"Go now! I will be fine!" Ashitaka defiantly stepped away from Sasuke and ran out of the room; trying to find Sasuke. The Kira then looked back at Ashitaka as he made a search for San. "You're the only one who can save her." He whispered silently, and the growled at the remaining samurai. He rose to his feet and chuckled a little; removing his hand from his wounded eye as it healed back to normal. And then he unveiled his vector snakes to them.

"Ready for action?" He smirked at them, and then was ready to cause some bloody mayhem.

Motoko was still running from the samurais behind her, but then stopped at her heels.

"This is it; no more running Motoko, show them what wrath a woman can bear!" She thought to herself, and then turned around slowly looking at the men laughing at her.

"What do you think? An exquisite treat?" One of them chuckled, but Motoko ignored the comment. She then grasped hold of the scabre that held her mother's sword, but stuttered for the moment.

"This is for you mother, and father." She then slowly unsheathed the sword from its case, and brought it out into the open, throwing aside the scabre. The samurais unleashed their weapons too, but Motoko already slashed them to pieces from the beautiful instrument of death she played in harmony with. She slashed their backs and pierced their throats, and even kicked one of them out of the way. She gracefully somersaulted in the air a couple of times and stabbed the samurais in their torsos and let them die. And when she got to the last one in her surroundings, she then sliced him in half vertically.

"Bravo! Bravo! Brave little girl!" Keirtoro exclaimed behind her as she stridently turned back behind her. "I see that you…already did some of my hard work done and I thank you for that. Now surrender." Motoko shook a little when Keirtoro then unveiled his vector snakes as well. Motoko looked down at her daggers she carried; she took hold of the cloth that carried them all, and flung her baggage towards him as Keirtoro clumsily caught them. She then began to make a run for it with her samurai sword in her hand; she ran into one of the houses and burst through the wooden ceiling and found herself in a small attic. Keirtoro chased her into the house, and her crawling through the boards. He dashed through the vectors through the wood and burst little holes though them trying to hit Motoko, but they were luckily missed. He listened carefully at the moment and heard her knees pressing down on the board. He tried to hit her again, yet the fire only managed to miss Motoko at only centimeters away. He then grew tired of it, and began to hit the ceiling at random places; Motoko covered her head at the moment until Keirtoro stopped. She breathed in and out quietly and tried to look through the holes to try to see Keirtoro; there were a few cuts on her lips and forehead from the splinters that slashed her a little bit. She then tried to silently move out of the house, but Keirtoro found her and pierced his vectors to where she was crawled on top of.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" She cried out as one of the snakes hit her through the side of her shoulder and her legs. And then there was silence, but drops of blood tricked down from some holes. Keirtoro smiled maliciously and turned away; know that he accomplished to kill one of the three warriors.

Sasuke stopped for the moment as he sensed that something has happened. He then sniffed a little and stared out to one specific house.

"Motoko!" he yelled out as he leaped into the sky and burst through the house, he looked up and saw Motoko's hand dawdling lifelessly in front of him. "Motoko I'm here." Sasuke touched her hand with care and then rose his arms up and thrashed a massive hole through the withered ceiling. He grasped hold of Motoko's sedated body and brought it down onto the ground. "Motoko…how did you get into this position?" He saw the deep wounds she took hold of and the cuts on her face.

"Sasuke is that you?" Motoko breathed out silently.

"Yes, it's me; I'm here." He reassured her, as he stroked her arms and tore off his grey kimono, leaving on his black sleeveless turtle-neck on. "Ashitaka's finding San. Everything's going to be alright just stay with me." Sasuke then tore the cloth into small rags and wrapped them round her wounds. And then he carried her by letting her head lean onto his chest and her arm round his neck.

It was then early night, and Ashitaka walked round an open silent area of Irontown. With Sakura in a quite far distance in a hidden room, she had her eyes closed, until a ringing noise came to her as she then sharply opened them widely. Ashitaka stopped as he heard the ringing too, and looked up.

"I've been spotted." Sakura then smiled with malice as small breezes brushed pass her hair.

"Do you really want to kill me that much Ashitaka?"


	34. Ashitaka vs Sakura

**Ashitaka vs. Sakura**

Ashitaka slowly walked up a small hilltop of Irontown; with his hand ready on his sword just incase. Keirtoro then spotted him on top of a balcony with the samurai that follows his commands.

"What are we waiting for sir?"

"We are waiting to see what Sakura's capable of. If she manages to kill Ashitaka, she shows us that she can kill the whole world of humanity. And then I will take her soul to my superiors and use it to destroy the world myself."  
"But sir does that I mean I will die too?"

"I'm afraid so." Keirtoro then slashed the samurais head off with his snakes and resumed watching Ashitaka coming forth to Sakura. He walked into Eboshi's humongous office and walked up the stairs as carefully as he could, reaching up to the rooftop above the ground level, where there is a wide space to roam around. He then saw Sakura far away with her mauve dress on and the crystal dagger too. He slowly walked up to her steadily with his hand still on his swords handle, with Sakura watching him bluntly.

"Why did you come?" Ashitaka then stopped at a few meters away from her.

"I want you to release San." Sakura then blurted out a little laughter and smiled.

"I'd love to see you try." Ashitaka still looked darkly at her with no emotion.

"You will release San, or I will send you back!" Sakura's eyes then widened and turned blood red. Ashitaka quickly drew out his bow and three of his arrows and fired them at her, but then Sakura's vectors repelled them away from her and snapped in half. Ashitaka's eyes broadened too as then the snakes came his way. He immediately dropped his bow and back flipped away from them, ran round a bent trying to escape from the murderous snakes that Sakura withheld. She then levitated from the ground and floated over a short distance, and landed on foot where she tried to find Ashitaka; he stood behind a small wall and looked at Sakura.

"What has Keirtoro done to her?" He asked himself. But then Sakura was still searching for her target. She didn't know that he was standing behind her at about five meters away, but then he moved back into the shadows taking hold of his bow again, and fired more arrows at Sakura. She quickly turned round and gasped at the arrows aiming for her. She awkwardly stopped them but one hit her slightly; it hit her shoulder as she flew back and landed on her back. She grunted as she knelt back up. But then Ashitaka walked towards her without fear.

"Don't force me to kill you." Ashitaka snarled at her coldly as Sakura leaned her head low a little, and then began to chuckle. Ashitaka became confused by her activity, when she then sat up and looked at him.

"Do you think you can slay me human?" She looked at him with laughter at first. "I don't know why San let you live." Ashitaka then gasped heavily as he looked down at Sakura. "SHE SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN SHE HAD THE CHANCE!!" She screamed at him, when then her vectors roared out from behind her back, and hit Ashitaka in the stomach. The force was so hard; it made him spat out blood a little. He grunted as he was then pushed back to the wooden balcony forcing it to crack a little. The snakes then came out in dozens and kept coming in towards Ashitaka, he tried to block them with his arms, but were then pulled away from his face and the vectors punched him in the cheek, Ashitaka spat out more blood when some of it began to trickle down the side of his mouth, another thumped him again in the other cheek when he then tried to look up. One of the snakes managed to rip his red mask away from him and shredded in the air. Sakura then let go of the crystal dagger, which then slashed Ashitaka's cheek below his eye. He grunted even more as the crystal dagger flew into the sky with blood drops on them. Ashitaka then collapsed his top half of his body and stared at the sky with his grey eyes widened and his mouth gaped open, still with blood drips running down from his jaws. The wind roared strongly along with the vectors of Sakura's still raging on with violence as it began to cluster and shatter the buildings below that fractured their balance. Keirtoro tucked in his head to cover himself from the splinters and wrecked pieces of wood setting impact everywhere. Sasuke wobbled from the shockwave with Motoko still clinging onto his body whilst they grunted and panicked a little.

"What was that?!" Motoko exclaimed.

"It's Sakura!" Sasuke hollered back.

"Then what about Ashitaka?!" They looked at each other and then looked above at the largest house on the roof where the battle took place. The shockwave then stopped at a slow rate. Keirtoro looked up as he saw Ashitaka lying still with the snapped balcony supporting him from the ground.

"She did it! She killed Ashitaka!" Keirtoro cheered a little, and then ran up the stairs to see what he thought he saw.

Ashitaka laid dead-like in his place, with the deep cut below his left eye soaked with blood, there was very little light in his eyes, punch marks across his cheeks, and his jaws gazed unwrapped; he was as if he was completely lifeless. Keirtoro looked down on him and laughed.

"The idiot thought he could take out a god?! Bah! He must have been crazed with folly. Now, about her…" He then looked at Sakura as she chortled too.

"Was that the legendary Ashitaka who thought to be a hero?!" San snickered as she stared at him with amusement. But she then sharply turned a corner when she spotted Sasuke running after her, with Motoko struggling behind.

"Sasuke she's too strong! She will kill you!" Motoko cried out for him.

"Like hell I'm stepping back!" He lowly replied back.

"The Kira!" Sakura then leaped into the sky slashing out her vector snakes within the dense atmosphere. Sasuke soared up unleashing his snakes too, they then collided with each other's violently as they tried to whip and slit each other's limbs and tendons. Sasuke growled harshly at Sakura as he strived to wound her. He then reached out his hands to try to push her away, but one of her vectors swiftly slapped his back that made him wince a little and land to the ground with his feet firm. Sakura leaned on the balcony a few meters away from him.

"Why are you here?! This is NOT your world!" Sasuke howled at her with anger.

"To be rid of humans! They deserve to die! And you should too!" Sakura then harshly pointed at Keirtoro.

"What the hell?!" He snapped at her.

"Do you think I'm stupid; not knowing that after I've dealt with these three morons, you will kill me for your demon's greed of power?! Well, I will make sure, that the demons will tear your soul apart for not accomplishing your task!" She then propelled one of her vectors to his rib cage, but Keirtoro quickly defended it with his own demon magic, yet he was pushed back through the wooden balcony and to the floor. Sakura then piercingly stared back at Sasuke. "You will be succumbed too; aiding and loving a human slut!" Sasuke grew angry and dark when his eyes broadened and his eye pupils turned cat-like as he heard those words.

"You bitch!" He lapsed towards her as he snarled fiercely. His vectors strived to clutch onto Sakura, but then she unleashed hers onto his when then flung him back to the ground once more. He landed still, and looked up, but then, his top body flicked backwards as a quite large rock struck him on the face. Suddenly another larger once was thrown close to him, but then the two boulders were crushed in to dust. The sound of mashing smashing tensed the air, and then Sasuke forced his vicious face out from the mist whilst gritting his teeth intensely. Sakura just looked down on him with no sentiment in the air.

"Do you think that becoming a guardian will make you an immortal?" Sakura scolded at him, as Sasuke stood himself back up.

"I never asked to become immortal." Then more scraps of wood and stone rose into the sky by Sakura's doing, and was then thrust down upon Sasuke.

"Is that the best you can do?!" He growled at her as he rapidly rocketed into the sky with his vectors. He then looked down as he tried to find the murdering goddess. But she came up behind him as he turned, and then spat blood out as he was punched in the stomach with her snakes. Sakura leaned in a little whilst in the air, and then forced herself back with her arms swaying as she threw Sasuke to the roof.

Keirtoro grunted as he lifted himself back up; his bleached blonde hair in a high small pony tail covered in dirt, and his arm was quite bruised when he fell.

"Damn it!" He cursed, and then drew out one of his small daggers.

Sasuke, on the other hand, grittily stood himself back again, and wiped away the small drops of blood on his lips. Sakura then let herself down softly.

'It's hard to call you a god when you act like a demon." Sasuke insulted. But moments after, Sakura smiled evilly with canines shown bare. Sasuke then huffed out a breath, and flung himself back as more spears of wood were thrown at him. Sasuke slide to the floor, but then tossed himself back up, and then just missed more spears as he back flipped once more.

"She will be hard sending her back; if she acts this rough she can actually take out my vectors." Sasuke panicked as he whispered. Then Sakura fired two snakes at his unveiled vectors, and then somehow, and horridly, pushed Sasuke back against a balcony and pierced his two vectors that were sliced off from his body. Motoko fretted in horror when she saw that happen.

"Oh God! Sasuke!!" She cried out. She then saw Sasuke hanging his head low to his chest, as he cross gripped his arms and brought his knees closer to him. He groaned icily as he vibrated in hurt.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHH!!" He screamed at Sakura as he lifted his head sharply and widened his eyes in pain. He then rose up and sprinted to Sakura; unruly of using his powers. She then lifted out one of her vectors, and fired it at Sasuke. His eyes suddenly broadened, as then blood spatter out from the sky.

"SASUKE!!" Motoko shrieked out She then saw Sasuke being strangled by Sakura, and then fiercely thrown back to the roof's floor unconscious. Motoko ran up to him and brought him back with her. She held him close and out of Sakura's way. Sakura then saw Keirtoro jump back up onto the roof with a dagger in his hand.

"I will not be sent to the underworld!" He hollered at her, as Sakura then rose up gales of wind that started to rush through the air. Keirtoro struggled to brace himself as the wind back him down a little.

"Sasuke please stay with me. Sasuke please stay with me." Motoko kept repeating whilst stroking Sasuke's hair.

"Ashitaka." He spoke out.

"What?" Sasuke then rose up hurriedly.

"Ashitaka! Where is he?!"

Then out from the broken bits of balcony, crawled out Ashitaka with the crystal dagger in his hand. He grunted as dirt smeared across his cheek and blood dabbed his lip a small amount. He looked up and saw Sakura in front f him brewing up a tempest. He then rose up from his place, and began to run. Keirtoro saw what he was doing and tried to do the same, but Sakura's force was still too strong for him to bear. Sasuke and Motoko looked up from behind and saw Ashitaka with the crystal dagger in his hand and dashing towards Sakura.

"Ashitaka!" Sasuke cried out from him to stop, but Ashitaka still kept on running. Sakura was still blinded by rage to see Ashitaka coming up towards her; but it was then too late. Ashitaka had grasped a harsh hold of her waist and stared into her eyes; they were still blood red.

"You're not San!" He growled at her, and then stabbed her in the side of her ribs with the crystal dagger. He didn't stab her in the heart because it would kill Sakura and San, but just enough to kill just Sakura. The wind then stopped with the wolf girl's body leaning over the edge of the roof; her eyes were broadened and lost the light of life from them. Ashitaka then grasped hold of her body and pressed it close to his, as then he felt that his mind was then turning into subconscious like Sakura's, they slowly leaned over the edge, and with his vision turning black, he heard the sound of Sasuke shouting for him blur away.

"Ashitaka! Ashitaka!" Sasuke cried out or him, but there was no answer; just Ashitaka closing his eyes and squeezed cheek to cheek with Sakura.

"Ashitaka! Ashitaka! Ashitaka…"


	35. Lexis of Love

**Lexis of Love**

When Ashitaka's world became black, it then woken him up to a surreal sky with mixtures of blue and sparkling of the stars above. He became confused, wondering what new world he was dragged into, and then he saw the face of the wolf girl looking down at him whilst she sat on top of his pelvis.

"Stay away!" he panicked.

"It's okay Ashitaka, it's me; San." The wolf Girl spoke back in a cool, soft voice. Ashitaka then stared closely into her eyes; they were merged in the color of grey.

"Then, where am I?"  
"Your in the dormant mind of my body; the lair where you can dream forever." Ashitaka looked around his surroundings, and found out that it was somewhat at nighttime, there were long meadows of blades of jade that swayed in harmony with the silent breeze, nearby was a navy ocean mottled softly with the midnight blue of the sky, and that he and San were in a small flower bed of ruby flowers and quartz of sakura floating on the ground. He also saw that he didn't have a kimono on, or his blue sleeves; just his trousers and shoes on, with San assembled on top of his pelvis as he also saw her wearing a white dress on that came above her knees and with a bare chest. He then looked around her side and saw the drapes reaching up to her thighs, and her skin was glued with petals, as he slowly looked back up, he saw her cleavage bare from her dress, but he ignored that a little bit and looked up at her face; he saw the tender smile she had, the rosy blush within her cheeks, and that her emotions were calm and lovable. "This is a place where you can be set free. Without any boundaries; no demons, no pain, no ache." San then calmly placed her hands on Ashitaka's chest and felt it gently.

"So…am I dead?"

"No. You're just passing through here." Ashitaka then felt a slight touch in his right hand beside San's thigh; he opened his hand and found the crystal dagger floating into the atmosphere, but the red string was still wrapped around his finger. "But I don't want you to go yet." San spoke sadly towards him. Ashitaka then looked up and see the water and the moonshine reflecting and glistened in her eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this to a human but…you've found me again, and…I don't want you to lose me once more."  
"It's alright." Ashitaka then caressed her hand as he then lifted his back from the ground. San leaned back a little when Ashitaka stared deeply in her eyes. "Thank you." San then clutched his hand a little more as they felt their embrace.

Then the sky merged from midnight azure, into crystal heavens of amethyst. Ashitaka and San were then spotted lying on a slanted hillside of indigo blades of grass, with Ashitaka's head laid upon San's abdomen, he also had his hand on it, as well with San all relaxed and calm; a reaction he though he would never see in her.

"When my father died, Kaya, _my _sister, was the only relative I could cling onto. But then, when I was exiled, everything was lost from me. Yet I know that I will be given something else in return, and when I met you…you changed my life forever." San still smiled calmly at Ashitaka when he softly whispered to her.

"You fell in love with me didn't you?" San questioned him, but Ashitaka sighed and refused to reply. "Why can't you say it?" San then tearfully asked him once more. Ashitaka looked up to see the moans in her eyes.

"San I…" But then the scenery, and San, dusted away into ash, leaving Ashitaka alone in this lonely darkness. "What?! What is this?!" He yelled to the air. Suddenly a gush of wind dashed behind him and forced him to collapse to the ground flat. He grunted as he fell with his sleeves and kimono back on, and then he heard a faint sinister whisper in a corner.

"You coward." Ashitaka then looked up, and saw the unmerciful Sakura standing above him. "You've have been feared by many humans, yet you can't be brought to your knees by one girl. Hm…ironic."

"You! Why are you here?" Ashitaka hesitated at her.

"Didn't San tell you? This where I have been laying hidden for the last five years." Ashitaka then lowered his head to the ground and shivered tremendously. Then small droplets of dark red trickled down onto the ground. Ashitaka grew curious of the liquid.

"Hey!" He then heard a male voice so similar to his, so he looked up, and hen perceived the demon that had tormented him back before; the scar that overtook his body, the black hair, the red eyes like Sakura's, and to not also mention a bullet sized hole though his stomach, the same type that shot through Ashitaka once. Ashitaka winced and stumbled to back away from him, whilst the demon strode forwards to him.

"It's hard to believe that I have to torment a human." The demon lowered his head towards Ashitaka's. "But then you shouldn't have killed Nago, shouldn't have you? Knowing that there would be a great burden upon you for killing a god, it's no surprise that you should be punished."

"I have been punished enough." Ashitaka argued back. But then, he felt a churn in his insides, and then felt a filth that trickled up his throat. He suddenly began to vomit out blood. He quickly covered his mouth as his eyes widened, but the blood refused to be postponed. His hair was then pulled up by the forceful grip of his inner demon, with the drips of nausea dribbling from his lips.

"I hardly doubt that; humans like you have always tampered with us gods and demons. You even interfered with a man you nearly killed you." Ashitaka felt even more ailing from those words. Then he felt a soft touch of fingertips stroking his chin from behind; it felt familiar, but his face was then harshly twisted to behind him as he then saw Sakura; the heinous 'bitch' of a God.

"You thin your worthy of having San?! You've got to be kidding me! You can' even kill me properly!!" She then slammed Ashitaka to the floor violently when he grunted in ache. He laid there dead a little, but then let out a silent moan as he brought himself to his knees, and wiped away the blood the soaked his lips. He then looked up and saw his demon once more, when he then knelt down to his level.

"You should know by now; this world no longer belongs to you or your pathetic race. Let us step in and lead this earth to salvation."

"Why? So you could gain your revenge? What kind of a God do you call yourself?" Then the demon gave him a harsh slap on his left cheek, which made Ashitaka bruise a little, but he still kept staring at him firmly. Yet then he was pulled in by the collar closer to the rotten face stained with the curse of the inner demon.

"You ignorant piece of waste, Do I need to repeat myself? Humans can't out rule a god, or a demon; it is visibly impossible to do so." The demon then pushed Ashitaka away from him when the poor human squinted his eyes. He looked back up only to see Sakura in the demon's place.

"I will rid of all humans on this earth, and create a green paradise where I and other inhuman beings live in."

"By killing humans? We need to keep the world at a balance! That means that man and beast must coexist together, war and death doesn't solve anything!" Ashitaka argued back.

"But war and death is what you do best!" Sakura then turned pale with her vicious lucid vectors swarming from behind and smothering her, then this bundle of slither rushed harshly through the prince as Ashitaka tried to cover himself away from the vibe that came dashing through like a flock of angry birds, then it stopped at a quite near distance in an immobilized status, the black poisonous leach then slurped it's way from the ground, molding into the form of the demon again.

"Ashitaka, you still don't know how to kill Sakura yet don't you?" he saccharinely questioned him, Ashitaka sharply turned around with his eyes still widened with frustration.

"I think I know now." He replied back in a mere whisper.

"Well then, you must realize by now that we…" The figure of the demon blearily and ghastly transformed back into Sakura with a swipe of the snakes.

"…are both connected." She finished the sentence off. Ashitaka looked weakly into her eyes, and noticed that they were the same as the demons. He growled maliciously with macabre and thrashed his hands round her throat with animalistic rage. Sakura squealed a little but then chuckled wryly. "Ashitaka not so hard…I much preferred it rough."

"Silence! I've had enough! Now, let go of San!" He clenched his fists tighter as he saw the demon again in his grasp.

"If you kill us…you will kill San too."

"San and Sakura are completely different, so I'll be killing YOU instead." Sakura grunted again as her face began to go paler than her usual paranormal appearance.

"What do you want?!" She spat at him. Ashitaka looked down slowly with depression, and loosened the grip smoothly, with the demon's appearance now staring at him, but with the hands still clutched around his neck.

"Family. That's what I've always wanted. I want to love, but every time I grow close to them, they are taken away from me. That's why I can't even say to San that I…"

"Don't say it." The demon scolded at him.

"I can't believe that words so simple can come out in such difficult terms. I must have been a fool to have not seen it coming. San is the most beautiful woman I've known; I want to share my life with her. We belong with each other. I must say it."

"No! You must not! Please!" the demon pleaded.

"I give you my heart San, and…I can't believe it is so hard to say that I love you." Ashitaka paused for a moment and gasped a little. "I love you. I love you." The demon and Sakura became frantic and shrilly.

"No!"

"I love you San. I love you…" Tears then began to trickle down his cheek as his tone grew deeper. "I love you. I love you. I love you…I LOVE YOOOUUU!!" Ashitaka then crushed the demon's throat when then a flash of light scorched on them both. Ashitaka finally woke up back into the real world. With 'San' falling away from him but he grasped her back into arms with despair, when he also then saw the two other demons began to wither away and scorch in this light that was a fire in disguise. The two of them screamed in pain as their souls perished in the flame.

"What happened to Sakura?!" Motoko fretted.

"He did it! He tore her soul apart!" Sasuke smiled a little.

"NO!" Keirtoro panicked at his stared into the blazes of the dying demons. He collapsed to the floor in horror, whilst Ashitaka wrapped San's wound and breathed in her scent, when he then stood upright, with San being held up in his arms, along with her limbs sticking out and her neck gracefully leaned back in the air. Ashitaka looked down at the unconscious San in a bleak yet beautiful way.

"What have you done?!" Keirtoro growled at him fiercely, but Ashitaka walked on pass him without any emotion shown to him, until he finally spoke.

"I've killed Sakura, and now you will never hurt any of my friends again." he quite coldly replied. Keirtoro looked down upon himself, and began to laugh wryly hidden beneath his breath, and then it roared out slightly as it caught Ashitaka's attention a little.

"What's so amusing." He spitefully asked.

"Did you forget? I still have powers." Keirtoro then lit up his hand with a bright red color and threw the light to some of the houses in Irontown; there was then a fire that grew upon the hay on top of the roofs. Sasuke and Motoko spotted the fire too, but somehow the flame didn't burn the hay, instead it dashed down near to the entrance of the town, and blocked it with it's fierce flames, along with other secret passage ways out of there; even the tunnels down below. "Now no-one will get out!" Keirtoro resumed his chortling. Ashitaka looked down at the orange haze in the breeze.

"You monster!"

"This is what happens when you mess with someone like me!" the cold magician spat out as he rose back up and snarled down at the young prince with a passed out girl of the wilds in his arms. Ashitaka held her neck up and pressed her head t his chest to protect her. Sasuke then ran back up to him frantically.

"Sasuke!" Ashitaka panted out. Sasuke ran up to him, but then he suddenly slowed down when he spotted a manly figure behind Ashitaka at not too far distance on the roof; his skin was translucent, and there was no light in his eyes, it could only mean one thing.

"Ashitaka! Run!" Sasuke panicked and then pointed behind him, Ashitaka sharply turned and saw a spirit who looked so much like him, but wit his hair in a small ponytail. "It's a demon!" But Ashitaka stared closely at the spirit.

"No, he's…" Observing the figure, the spirit then sprinted towards him with a sense of anger in his eyes, but then he didn't hit Ashitaka as the prince pranced away from him; instead the ghost caught Keirtoro, and stabbed his right hand through his chest, and dug out a black light that glowed deeply, until it died slowly. Keirtoro stuttered and tried to wheeze in air as he crumpled back down to the floor.

"My…powers…!"

"Are gone?" Sasuke walked up to him with no emotion in his eyes. "I think I can take you out."

"No Sasuke." He then turned he head slowly to Ashitaka. "He's been punished enough for what he did, let's go; we can take out the fire instead." Sasuke then walked away from Keirtoro as Ashitaka looked down upon him once more and gradually turned and walked away. Keirtoro then spat out a heap of laughter and choked a little.

"I finally remember you now!" Ashitaka ignore what he said and carried on walking. But then another speech drooled out. "Your father begged for life with a young boy in his arms; you were the young boy weren't you?"


	36. The Prince's Revenge

**The Prince's Revenge**

Ashitaka slowly stood still when he heard Keirtoro's question, when he then was occurred with childhood flashbacks of his father's brutal murder.

"You…killed my father." Ashitaka breathed harshly under his voice.

"That's right; I tried to kill every last immortal on this earth that will ruin my plans, it happens that your father was on the list. Feeling angry yet?" Ashitaka gritted his teeth secretly as he turned back to Keirtoro.

"Ashitaka no! All of us will die if we don't get out of here! This is insane!" Sasuke clutched onto Ashitaka's cloth and pulled him towards his face, Ashitaka then calmly looked at him.

"Take San, and find a way out of here." Ashitaka firmly ordered him. Sasuke stared into his eyes and knew that this had to be done.

"You just hurry." Sasuke added at the end with a small depressing sigh, as he took San into his grasp and ran back down to the floor. Ashitaka then stared at Keirtoro wretchedly, and clenched his fists tightly, as he then walked up to Keirtoro slowly when he saw the monster got up from his place.

"So, what's gonna happen now huh?" Keirtoro asked but Ashitaka stared at him evilly, Keirtoro then cocked out a pistol from his side, when also Ashitaka unleashed San's dagger to Keirtoro's neck, the two stared at each other vividly as the lightening suddenly struck down, with the orange haze still brewing strong. "No weapons." Keirtoro commanded. Ashitaka remained staring at him, when then he was the first to loosen his weapon, when then did Keirtoro, they both bent down to put down their weapons safely, but then Keirtoro quickly dropped his gun and thrashed Ashitaka in his left cheek that made him stun a little. Ashitaka grunted as he stumbled, he tried to punch Keirtoro back, but then his arm was pulled in and then felt another hit in the stomach; his eyes broadened by the pain that he took in, and was then uppercut in the chin. He felt the sudden strike thrust him unexpectedly as his head flicked up and the taste of blood sprinkled his throat. Keirtoro tried to get another shot, but then his arm was pulled in and Ashitaka hardly lifted his right elbow and smacked it into Keirtoro's lips. Ashitaka panted as there was a pink heat rash by the side of his lip, but Keirtoro chuckled dryly when he lifted his head back up and smiled maliciously as Ashitaka.

"Do you really think you can beat me, boy?"

"Yes I do, and I'll make sure that you'll regret what you did to me!" Ashitaka then lifted his fist and tried to collide it into Keirtoro, but suddenly it was blocked when he locked his wrist into his grasp. He then forcefully shoved his left fist across Ashitaka when then there was the first sight of blood floating out from his mouth, he suddenly thrust him to one side as Ashitaka plummeted to the floor. The prince shuddered a little as he raised his top half from the ground; he looked at Keirtoro with his livid eyes as he wiped away the blood from his lips.

"What about Ashitaka?" Motoko panicked a little when she saw Sasuke holding onto San with his hands. He sighed as he looked up to the ceiling.

"He want's to fight Keirtoro alone. Motoko went pale a little and looked at the ferocious inferno scorching their exits slowly, with then sparks soaring in the air and passing on to the forest.

"But we need him! If the fire carries on blowing, then it will destroy the forest! We and including San will lose our homes!" Then there was a sudden groan that came from Sasuke's chest, but it was too feminine fir it to be Sasuke. San then blinked her eyes and looked up at him.

"San! You're still alive!" She looked once more and saw Motoko looking down on her as well. But suddenly her dozy eyes became widened with fear and jerked off Sasuke.

"Where's Ashitaka?!" Sasuke sighed again and looked at the roof; San looked up at the roof and saw Ashitaka grunting a little.

"Ashitaka!" she dashed to him, but Sasuke held her shoulders back.

"No San! Ashitaka must do this alone!"

"If he fights alone, he will die!

Ashitaka wiped away the last bit of blood from his lips and stared at Keirtoro.

"My powers may be gone, but I am still strong enough to beat you!"

"No you're not!" Ashitaka dashed towards Keirtoro and tried to swing his first hit on him, yet he failed with a block of his arms, but then he swiped them away and uppercut him. Keirtoro shook a little from the strength of the punch. Ashitaka then strived to kick him in the stomach, suddenly his leg was forced down and Keirtoro's fist collided into his stomach, and his body was lifted from the ground, flipped over and was slammed onto the ground. Ashitaka growled when he fell, but then there was a screeching wince from his voice as a foot was harshly stomped into the place where he was hit. His eyes broadened and his lips pursed when he felt the sudden needle pain through his internals. Foot was lifted back up from the ground, and Ashitaka back flipped away from Keirtoro before the next stomp hit him once more. Ashitaka panted heavily for air as the sweat began to drip from his face, he also tasted more blood in his mouth that took a cause through his tongue.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Keirtoro sneered at him, but Ashitaka clenched his fists even more and gritted his teeth.

"I don't care how much this hurts! The only thing that matters now is that you're dead MY reckoning!!"

"I'd love to see you try!" Ashitaka dashed to him once more and managed to miss a few of his maneuvers, yet no matter how he missed Keirtoro, he always prepared another punch for him. The hits still came soaring into Keirtoro, as so as well for Ashitaka, but both of them were skillfully missed, as Ashitaka swiped away Keirtoro's arms and his arms blocked off as well, then he bend low, and tried to swoop his leg low in a circle to trip him up, but that failed as well when he jump away from him, so he rose back up and carried on striving to thrust his fists at him. But then the chain of attacks was brought to a pause when then Ashitaka felt a clutch on his left collar. Keirtoro then ripped down a tear from his kimono causing it to fray away to see his bare chest and a small sight of his sleeves, and then he was kicked once more in the stomach, but with so much power, it frittered his kimono into small fragments of fabric, with only parts of it still lingering on him. Ashitaka was then thrown to the ground again; his limbs shuddered a little before he rose back up with dirt smeared over him.

"I never forgot that day…when I was thirteen…you slaughtered my father for what could only be a mere prophet."

"And right you are saying what a mere prophet I came to commence with; no immortal had ever stopped me yet and it won't stop me now." Ashitaka wheezed in air silently to regain breathing in his lungs.

"Someone stop him before he's dead!" San pleaded as she was still attached to Sasuke, he thought to himself for a moment, until he came to a final decision.

"Ashitaka needs our help!" he stated as he released San. She then ran up back to the main building where Ashitaka and Keirtoro are still fighting. Motoko looked at Sasuke when he then reached out his hand to her.

"Motoko, we need you too." She then slowly grasped his hand, when then Sasuke clutched hers tightly and pulled her body in and began to run to Ashitaka, with their hands till connected.

Ashitaka still panted heavily for air, when then San ran towards him from a far distance.

"Ashitaka!!"

"San?!" His thoughts became distracted by seeing the wild girl he was fondly infatuated with. But Keirtoro then came swooping in with his fist and smacked it across Ashitaka's cheek bone, and made him groan immensely. He looked back up at Keirtoro as he snarled back down at him.

"You can't save the world Ashitaka, one day it will crumble to ruins by humans reckoning." Ashitaka gritted his teeth when then blood trickled from his mouth that drooled down one side; he looked away when the monster smirked at him. "You're still trying to deny that it hurts so much, and I thought _The Kira_ was a bit too much for you too handle. Well why not? He's a pathetic embarrassment of a guardian of the earth."

"Hey! Don't speak like that about Sasuke!" Keirtoro turned around slowly when he heard Motoko's voice blasted into his ear at a quite far distance. "Yes, he is a killer, but now I know why he is like that; it's because people like you have degraded him down to nothing! And ever since I stayed with him, he is one of my closest friends now, and that is something you can't degrade!"

"That's rich coming from a human bounty hunter! You capture others to get paid! You are the biggest hypocrite I know!" Keirtoro snapped at her, but then San ran closer to him.

"You are no better yourself!"

"So, you're saying I'm wrong? That I am much worse than human?"

"That's right!"

"You are the feeblest fake of a 'wolf'." Ashitaka then tackled him down to the floor and then rising back up, looking up at San.

"Are you alright San?" She nodded back at the reply. But then Ashitaka was kicked again and punched in the face, he spat out more blood that stained the floor. Ashitaka then began to run forward and tried to throw a various amount of rabbit hooks and side kicks, but they all keep missing. And then he was forced to be slammed into the floor once more. Ashitaka laid there for moments, which blood tainted on his lips and dirt and sweat covering his body. He felt numb, like he couldn't move an inch, instead all he could do was moan.

"You are by far most the worse human of them all; thinking that you're better than the rest by trying to save the world, what is your purpose in all of this?"

"To see with eyes unclouded by hate." Ashitaka groaned back.

"Hate? You know a lot about that don't you?" Ashitaka on the ground with his eyes closed. "No matter how hard you try; your hands will ALWAYS be stained by hate." Ashitaka then gradually, but finally, rose up to his feet one more.

"Hate didn't forge the world together; it's what drives us apart. And that hate is what deprives me most about YOU!!" He then ran into him and for once, managed to thrash him in the stomach that made him wince, and then he thumped him even harder and angrier than the next, and made him rise from the ground and slammed back down. Keirtoro became infuriated and felt anger more dangerous than his throws of punches.

"If you think you can win you're wrong!!" But then Ashitaka stood still when he saw Keirtoro cocking out a fully loaded pistol.

"No boy…I KNOW I can win."

"You can't fight by the rules; you're a discourse to the name 'warrior'!"

"Careful Ashitaka, or else you will end up with a bullet through your cheek." Keirtoro pointed the gun at him evilly. "Say goodbye to your lover!" Ashitaka stared at San with her worrying eyes, but then he heard panting coming his way, A thrust then came and pushed him to one side when a bullet was fired, it then struck through the heart of the man who struck Ashitaka out of the way. It was Sasuke. He stuttered for a moment as he eyes broadened when he felt a numbing pain striking through his chest; the bullet hit his heart, which only meant one thing…

Motoko grew pale and gasped at what happen with her jaw wide open, San slapped her hands round her mouth with disbelief, and Ashitaka stared at Sasuke with cold sweat running down his forehead. Sasuke got his balance under control, and slowly looked at Keirtoro, the monster with the gun gave him a scold, but Sasuke, for once, for many years, gave him, not a malicious one, but a light-hearted smile. He then started to lean his head back and let his body weight tip backwards. Ashitaka gasped heavily and caught him before he fell, when he saw the small hole through the middle of his chest, and he knew, that one strike through the heart, can kill an immortal.


	37. Shot Through the Heart

**Shot through the Heart**

"_Baka!_ Why didn't you block the bullet?!" Ashitaka growled down at Sasuke with his arm supporting his head. Sasuke sighed as the blood trickled down from his mouth.

"Listen to what I'm going to say…please…"

"Alright, I'm listening." Ashitaka calmly replied.

"For all my life, I have live in fear, anxiety, and most of all hate. Before I met you, humans were my everlasting enemies, some of them are still. But I am tired…I am tired of hating, tired of killing everyone by my one emotion. I am desperate Ashitaka…" he started to raise his voice "…desperate for it to stop…and you helped me. I've always been afraid to die, but with you, San, and Motoko…oh Motoko…you've shown me how dying, is part of life anyway, and we will be reborn in the afterlife…"

"Yes Sasuke, death is just another path that we all must take one day, but that doesn't mean that you can leave what you've got here!" Ashitaka's voice began to break with tears.

"Ashitaka…if you had lived 18 years of my lifetime you would understand, how this pain in my heart feels so good. It's not really pain, because I can't feel anything."

"That's because you're fading!" The prince's voice and tears trebled even further with pieces of his heart quaking with sorrow.

"Fading? Fading…home…I think…I can go home…" Sasuke then began to cry as well as he looked up at the black clouded sky, yet all he could see was clearness, not a speck in sight, and the moonlight; he had always adored the moonlight.

"You can't go! Not now! Now is not your time!"

"Ashitaka…you have to send the spirits back."

"I can't! I'm not immortal!"

"You forget about your father…" Ashitaka then looked down and shut his eyes tight.

"Your father will come to you when you need help most…I can't…hang on…any longer…"

"What about Motoko?!" Sasuke then opened his eyes and looked up, frailly rose up a hand, and stroked a tear away from Ashitaka.

"I know you can do it Ashitaka…help us…find…" Sasuke leaned his head back as his eye lids began to lower. "…home…" The soul from Sasuke's body faded away, as his hand dropped to the ground. Ashitaka shivered and shook the empty shell he held beneath him.

"No…! No…!" Ashitaka then embraced the body and held it tight with Sasuke's head held in his chest. "…I'll bring you back…" Ashitaka gently whispered in his ear.

"I thought he would never leave." Keirtoro scoffed at the pair kneeling down. Ashitaka grew silent for a moment; he tightened the grip in his fist and gritted his teeth intensely.

"I"LL KILL YOU!!"

Then all of a sudden there was a shockwave that exploded through out Irontown that somehow managed to wipe out half of the fiery flames that blocked the exits. Motoko supported San as they fell on top of each other. Ashitaka then gave Keirtoro an animalistic growl, and with his feisty eyes, he howled a warrior cry in a thirst for revenge, he let Sasuke's body gently fell to the floor, but secretly took hold of his Sais, and grasped on with his teeth. He then ran toward him and jumped into the air. Keirtoro growled at him and bullets soared out from his gun. But Ashitaka swiveled out of their way, threw one of the Sai down at the gun and pierced it to the ground as it was knocked out from Keirtoro's hand, all broken.

"Kisama!"

Then Ashitaka pivoted backwards and sprinted back towards Keirtoro, with one other Sai in his hand, he then did a series of kicks but was easily blocked. Ashitaka then flipped back down, and slit a cut on Keirtoro's cheek. Ashitaka hyperventilated deeply and roughly with his raging eyes. He tried to stab him but was uppercut under the chin, yet he carried on, swiping the blade in and out trying to cut Keirtoro again. But suddenly the blade was knocked out of his hand, got punched in the torso twice and then smacked across the face that made him fell. Keirtoro spat out blood from the cut, as Ashitaka weakly brought himself upright.

"You're good, boy, I'll give you that." Keirtoro flicked his hair back. "But me…I'm not human." Ashitaka snarled as he saw the sai from one side and picked it up when he rose. He then flicked the sai to Keirtoro, but was deftly caught between his fingers. Keirtoro then flung it back to Ashitaka with more force. Ashitaka tried to catch it as well, but then the sai went through something else painful. Ashitaka groaned as he bent down a little.

"Ashitaka!" San gasped, but was held back.

"Wait!"

Ashitaka rose back up again, only to find that the Sai went through the middle of his right hand; stuck right in the centre. Keirtoro laughed at him as Ashitaka winced in pain. But it meant nothing to him, so he pulled out the Sai slowly. He looked back at Keirtoro, but he was already close to him, he then got punched in the face, side to side, over and over again, right hooks, uppercuts, you name it, and with various amount of kicks it send him plummeting to the ground harshly. Ashitaka didn't move he didn't want to move; he too, started to fade a little.

San looked at Ashitaka and then growled at Keirtoro.

"You Bastard!" she sprinted towards him, but was then slapped across the face and pushed backwards. "Ashitaka! Wake up!"

But Ashitaka felt dozy, yet he heard the pleas of those who have crossed him over time and time again. He saw Motoko, Sasuke, and San too, standing over him. They all shout.

"C'mon Ashitaka! You can do it!"

"Ashitaka, push! You got to try again!"

"Ashitaka wake up! Please wake up! We need you!"

In his subconscious, his knees were brought close to his face, and then looked up in the darkness with his sleepy eyes.

"Are they calling me?"

Back in reality, the explosions from the fire became more violent and more ferocious.

The shockwave entered Ashitaka's subliminal mind as he laid crouched tightly, the explosions made him scream as he flung his head back and returned it back to his knees. Then they stopped, and only whispers remained. The words repeated over and over again with the voice of Ashitaka.

"Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me…´

"You're not going to die…" Another fair voice entered his mind, with more repetitive words, with the repetition of Ashitaka's plea still lying low.

"I will come for you. Just hang on. I'm coming. You will not die today. I will help save you. Please hang on, my Son. I will not let you go! Please stay!"

"Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me… Somebody save me…

SOMEBODY…SAVE ME!!"

Then a flash of light came into the darkness, and diluted it with the contrast of white. Ashitaka looked up and saw what he thought was an angel.

"Father…you're really here…"

"…Take my hand…" the voice came to him. So Ashitaka opened his hand out to the light, then another hand clutched it, and pulled it in towards him.

"FATHER!!"


	38. The Phoenix

**The Phoenix**

Ashitaka's face lit up. Then back in reality, his eyes opened, and then with some kind of new and mysterious magic, his eyes turned from grey, to bright hazel. Then, some parts of the fired became onto Ashitaka's skin. Keirtoro grew panicky with this new macabre. Ashitaka yelled out another cry and threw a fireball at Keirtoro, but again he missed that.

"NO! He can't be!" the fire was wiped away to see a better view of Ashitaka's newly colored eyes, all bright and fiery as the sun. "But you're not an immortal!"

"My blood runs through his veins, he and I can still defeat you." Keirtoro then carefully looked closer at Ashitaka with the winds of fire rippled back in violent quakes.

"_He can't be immortal; if he was, he would have destroyed me in the first place." _Keirtoro thought to himself, until he growled at Ashitaka horridly. "Who are you?!" Ashitaka stared back at Keirtoro with surreal light in his golden eyes, he didn't felt weak, but he felt, stronger than ever.

"Your fate." Ashitaka replied in a stern voice. "And I will reap you from your body when the world is restored to its balance."

"You can't be back! I killed you! And you can't kill me!" Keirtoro hollered at Ashitaka with laughter, but Ashitaka still kept firm.

"No, I can't." Keirtoro stopped chortling and then stared confused at Ashitaka, his face went pale for a moment with cold sweat. "But my son will." Keirtoro shuddered at those words. But all of a sudden the fire shockwave swept low and didn't cause a hassle for him. Yet then, Ashitaka swiftly dashed through them and punched Keirtoro in the stomach, the monster then punched the half immortal in the face that made him lean backwards. But it didn't send him all the way. He leaned over the edge of falling, until he slowly tilted his body weight back up with his head still slanted back, showing his bare, there were small ribbons of sparks encircling him, as he gracefully tipped his body back up without moving a muscle, until he quickly flicked his head back up, only to see Keirtoro's face, he drew his right fist back and collided into Keirtoro's mouth. It sent him off the ground and violently slammed back down to the floor, seeing him wailing as there was blood coming from his mouth.

"_Now Ashitaka, you must send the spirits back; time's running out." _A voice spoke within Ashitaka's body.

"How do I do that father?"

"Repeat these words, and thrive your powers together if you can."

"Right." Ashitaka exhaled out, and listened within his soul, the words that can cause something extraordinary to happen.

_Harmony of the Wind,_

_Essence of the Earth, _

_Sway of the Water,_

_Flash of the Fire. _

Ashitaka then followed the lyrics and continued along with his father.

_Come to my aid,_

_Surrender the soul,_

_Ignite the force,_

_Release the lock…_

Then, as Ashitaka sung those words, there were multiple colors of light sprinkling around the Broken Town, Motoko and San looked stunned by the manifold of illuminations, and the illustrated force that came along with it. Then, fading in from the winds, San saw her mother once more along with one of her brothers.

"Mother! Brother!" San cried out when the souls glowed into various amounts of colors; forest jade, marina sky, crimson bliss. Motoko also saw Eboshi and Father together.

"We are very proud of you Motoko." Eboshi whispered to her, Motoko began to cry and clenched her hands close to her heart. Ashitaka still stood firmly on his spot with his eyes closed shut. Until he heard ghostly footsteps reaching his way, he slowly looked up, with the winds galling harder, and there he saw the spirit Sasuke. He couldn't believe his hazel eyes; the Sasuke is still hanging on for him and the others.

"I'm still hanging on. But you still must send the others back. I will help you!"

"Sasuke you…!"

"I'll sing with you!"

_I am the servant of eternal life,_

_Guardian of the mortal world,_

_The fire from the heavens will not fail me, _

_Spirits of the crossover…_

The wind howled now even stronger and more powerful. Ashitaka raised his hand to the sky, when there was a glow in his fingers that then turned into lightening that flickered everywhere. And then, it was the final moment when Ashitaka must say his final words…

I SEND YOU BACK!!

Ashitaka then slammed the lightening down, which then exploded and dashed away into stars that struck upon the spirits, and transformed them into one huge light, and then caused a tremendous blaze amongst them, and then faded away to the skies above. The various colors faded too, but some parts of Keirtoro's fire were still ablaze among Irontown. Keirtoro managed to get back onto his feet, and observed what he saw, was a failure to his purpose.

"NOOO!!" He collapsed to his knees again. Ashitaka suddenly felt weak, when then his father's soul descended from his body, his eyes turned back grey and saw his father weakly collapse as well.

"Father!" he gasped and saw his lucent body soak through the floor. He then looked at the body of Sasuke, as his body suddenly shuddered and jerked off from the floor. He gasped in heavily as he touched the wound healing away. He then looked at Ashitaka and smiled.

"You brought me back."

Keirtoro rose back up, again, and roared angrily at Ashitaka, he then looked behind him and saw San holding Motoko up, and then wryly smiled, as he held out a dagger.

"You may have saved the world, but can you save your lover?!" He then flicked the dagger over to San.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Ashitaka raced against the flying dagger. San covered herself with her arms out and was then thrust against the balcony when then Ashitaka lapsed onto her.

There was a small silence in the air. San still had her eyes shut tight and her hands clenched. Ashitaka breathed in heavy breaths into his lungs with his arms obscuring San. Motoko and Sasuke froze sickly by what they just saw. San then felt patters of blood onto her mauve dress; she looked down, and then saw…the dagger hit Ashitaka in the heart. San wheezed in and out heavily and grew sick at what she saw in front of her.

"San…" She then looked at Ashitaka's head hung low. "I wanted to say this to you for a long time, but since this is my last chance…" Ashitaka then lifted his head up, with blood oozing from his mouth, but his eyes were soft and his smile was light, when then he finally said it…

"…I love you."

San gasped and gritted her teeth as she whine with sorrow. She then looked down and saw her dagger in Ashitaka's hand. He rose off her, ran to Keirtoro with immense speed, flipped into the air, only to soar down, and strike Keirtoro down right through his heart as well. Keirtoro didn't move, the pain was too much for him to bear. Ashitaka then kneed him into his own fire, scorching his soul into ash; never to return. Ashitaka returned to the floor, and pierced out the dagger that hit him and threw it to one side. Motoko ran up towards Sasuke and flung herself into his arms, and kissed his cheek again and again, when then Sasuke gave her a kiss on her soft lips.

"You came back!" Motoko whispered.

"It was all of you that helped me."

Then, rain began to spear down, and diluted the fire from its rage, when then it steamed away into the mist. The sky became dark blue with stars shining above. San looked up and saw that the threat was over, and giggled.

"We did it!" She turned to Ashitaka to smile with him. But her beam suddenly dispatched from her, when she saw him lying still on the floor, it was that, Ashitaka could be dead.


	39. Rebirth

**Rebirth**

"No…" San grew pale and her eyes broadened when she saw Ashitaka lying on the ground stilly. She ran up to him and was brought to her knees, where she saw the fallen Prince set immobile with the blood tainted on his lips, and the patches of sweat and dirt blotched on his beautifully tanned skin. "No…come on now…" San whispered to him when she held his head up onto her lap. Ashitaka's eyes were still closed and soft with his lips fair and gentle. She then began to tap his cheek various amount of times. "Ashitaka…you can't be dead…you just can't." She began to shake him, and then kept slamming her fist onto his shoulder, tears started to twitch from her eyes and her lips began to shiver. "No! NOOO!!" she screamed out, and gave out a screech so painful it struck her heart as the rain soared down. Sasuke furnished sadness in his expression, and small tears blended in with the droplets pattering down on his skin. Motoko tugged on his shoulder and place her head beside his neck.

They all knew, Ashitaka was dead.

' San clutched Ashitaka close to her heart, and grasped his hand as she entwined her fingers with his. She felt a greater sorrow more than any pain she felt before. The most surreal thing was though, she was sad for a human; her greatest enemies. But it was Ashitaka, the one human who told her that she was, of course, 'beautiful'.

"Ashitaka…" she whispered to him. "Remember when we, spend that one day together? When we went to a waterfall, and splashed each other until we got wet?" She sniffed her tears away, trying to be strong. "We had to strip ourselves naked in order for our clothes to dry, and then we watched the sea sway the waves back and forth; it was so beautiful. And I knew…you wanted me so much. Then we went back to the human house, I fell asleep. But then, I felt your breath. You breathed so much warmth onto my cheek, and then…you asked me…'can you love me?'…well…yes…yes you can…because I love you." San cracked and pushed his body close to hers. "I LOVE YOU!!" she wailed out a painful cry that also brought Sasuke and Motoko to tears even more. San still held the body near her and whined to herself as the rain continuously fell.

Then, slowly, she heard footsteps walking pass her and Motoko and Sasuke. It was the spirits again; it looked like they wanted to say their last goodbye to their heroes before they return to the next world. San was still too tired and more concerned about her dead lover. Until, another familiar footstep approached to her, and stood in front of her instead of by her side. San still didn't look up, holding onto the body of Ashitaka, until a familiar voice spoke softly to her.

"San…" She looked up, and saw the spirit of Ashitaka.

"Is that you, Ashitaka?" She gently laid the body on the ground and stood up to see the translucent skin of Ashitaka. There was sparkling in his hair, his lips were soft and his eyes were glistening. San chuckled a little, when he then reached out his hand for her. She gasped a little when she saw his gesture, so, she slowly did the same. She looked back up at Ashitaka, but his expression slowly changed into sorrow when then his whole body was drawn away from San. San began to follow him, yet the pace of floating away from her grew faster.

"Don't leave me!" But then she was pulled back by Motoko.

"He must go San!"

"No! I won't let him! Sasuke help him!" But Sasuke struggled a little.

"He's not letting me." San sharply turned back at the fading Prince.

"I love you! I would die for you Ashitaka! Please stay! I love you!" she wailed out once more, sadly Ashitaka knew that he must join the other spirits. He looked away, but then he saw his father in front of him.

"Go to her."  
"But I thought-

"You love her. And she loves you. Not even on earth or heaven can take that away. Take the chance now to be reborn. Take the second life; no one ever really has a second life, take the chance." Ashitaka smiled at him with light-heartiness.

"Thank you. I hope we'll see each other again."

"We will see each other again. But not yet. Not yet." Moments later, all of the spirits disappeared into the clearness of the mist. He turned around, and looked back at San who is still clinging onto his body, he smiled and looked at her with love, he then also disappeared, and then there was silence. The clouds then merged together in this navy blue mist as the stars were once again covered by this abstract macabre. But out of this blue mystery, came falling down a spirit from the heavens; he was only a young man, dark chocolate hair, olive tanned skin, soft lips. It was Ashitaka alright. He's the one that was diving through the breeze yet he was still immobile. Then there was another faint whisper in the distance.

"Ashitaka…you saved us from destruction, and now I will give you your gift…

…_The Phoenix._"

Then suddenly a fiery light ignited from his chest, shooting out electrical lightening from his heart and sparked out stars which made Ashitaka flick his head in the air, his body was then weighed down in a laid position and carried on floating back down to earth.

"The phoenix has been passed down from our ancestors and is given to those who sacrificed themselves for the ones they love. This gift travels through blood and time, and will be passed on to future generations; no one's really immortal after all, we're just guardians protecting those who need our help most. So…given second life…protect those you love…"

Ashitaka's soul then finally met his body when he secretly laid his limbs through his skin and placed his head through the body. San was still sulking and shedding small tears. Moments later, Ashitaka finally opened his eyes in his body, and slowly turned his head to San. He was still unnoticed, so he then gradually lifted up a hand, touched San's face and felt her warmth. San noticed the touch and place her hand on top of his. Then she suddenly twitched as her eyes broadened and looked down at Ashitaka, she gasped when she saw his eyes awake.

"I'm back." He frailly spoke to San. San failed to breathe for a moment as she skipped a bit, and then she cried out happily when she grasped him in his arms and embraced him. Sasuke tugged Motoko with happiness when he saw that Ashitaka had returned. San was still lingering onto Ashitaka as they hugged and hugged and hugged as the rain lastly stopped, and that the night turned silent once again.


	40. Second Life

**Second Life**

The next morning, everything changed. The sakura was in bloom, not in blood red, but fair pink. The water ran calmly through the river in crystal blue, and the jade grass flow in harmony with the breeze. Then, through the bushes a minor wolf god with a small girl sat on his back, walked pass the bushes with the reflections of the sun spread its shadows on their patchy pelt. Kaya looked healthy and well, her hair was as black as ebony and as long as tree roots. They were walking up to the houses, and saw Motoko outside in a small bushel area. Her clothes were different though, she wore a navy blue dress that drew to her knees, she wore black tights and new fur boots, and she also wore sleeves attached to her dress with diamond decorations down the side. She then looked up and saw the pair walking up to her.

"How are you?" Kaya innocently asked her.

"I'm fine thank you, and you two? How is living life like San?"

"I like it. It's cool." Motoko smiled back at her reply.

"If you want to see the others you are more than welcome too."

"It's only been two days and you guys are already back to normal?"

"I guess so." Motoko chuckled and grabbed her sheathed sword. Kaya got off the wolf's back and lead him and herself back to the house. Motoko was lacking behind a little, but then she felt an arm brush pas her and embrace her waist. It then pulled her in, as she looked up she saw Sasuke looking at her with a bandage round his forehead, along his usual grey kimono on as well.

"Must you always do that?" Motoko asked with a little annoyance.

"Only because I love you." He then lowered his head and kissed her lips softly.

"When did you become a softie?"

"Well I can be either that or be rougher with you."

"Maybe rougher at night, but not now, Ashitaka and San are waiting."

"You're right." Sasuke then stood Motoko upright and held her hands behind her as they followed Kaya and San's wolf brother.

"New clothes San?" The wolf questioned her when he saw San carving a new knife, she wore yet another dark violet dress, but this time she had a shoulder strap made out of white pelt on her left shoulder, and an arm band wrapped round her right elbow, her boots were the same though, she kind of liked the style.

"Well I have to, my other dress got ruined, and I didn't want to stay in that stinky dress I wore before, anyway, I made this dress MYSELF."

"What about the boy?"

"What about Ashitaka?"

"Is he kind to you?"

"Of course he is! He loves me! And I love him!" The wolf was sort of stunned when he heard those words.

"My sister in love with a human, well I never thought I see the day; you've become balanced now."

"I've learnt that not all humans are evil. Ashitaka is my best example of it. But we haven't really expressed our love yet. I don't know how, humans are so confusing when it comes to love."

"You kiss them if you love a person." Kaya decided to intervene.

"Kiss? What's a kiss?" San asked curiously.

It's when you press your lips with another person's lips to show love, sometimes it goes even further."

"Can you show me?" San grew excited a little. Kaya blushed when she was asked that question.

"You can't do it with me! You can only do it with the one you love the most."

"So…I can only do it with Ashitaka then?"

"I'm sure Ashitaka would be most pleased to do it with you; he's infatuated." San smiled at her, and then she smiled down to herself. "Come now! Otherwise we'll be late for the ceremony."

"What ceremony?" The wolf asked.

"The celebration of the spirit's passing."

"Oh…I remember now, well, I don't want to be an intruder to human activity, you go and get in touch with your humane side."

"No! I want you to come as well. Humans and Beasts shouldn't be fighting; they should be living in harmony!"

"Has that boy been talking again?"

"…Maybe."

"Hmm…well…he's a smart human, I'll give him that."  
"Thank you." The wolf then bowed his head to San as she did the same. "Come on then." She walked over pass the houses with the Wolf, Kaya, Sasuke and Motoko leading behind.

The sun was nearly setting, and the sky was merging into a purple haze. They reached the hilltop, where they saw Ashitaka standing over a carved stone, he turned around with a smile, and a bandage across diagonally down his right cheek.

"You're here."

San then held a torch of firelight from some timber, and then, beneath there was a nest of hay. She dropped the torch onto the hay and let it take alight. She then stood back and watched the nest burn. Ashitaka then looked sad as he watched the flames dance in the heat. Sasuke noticed him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What you, San and everyone did two days ago was heroic. Your father would be proud of you"  
"You should be proud as well Sasuke, you helped us all the way."

"It was you who gave me second life, it's an honor." San watched Ashitaka's eye maneuver around gently; she wanted him so badly now, she wants to know what a 'kiss' feels like.

"Thank you all." Motoko praised to the fire and then walked away.

"Goodbye." Sasuke finally spoke and walked to Motoko.

"We'll see you again." The wolf and Kaya uttered when they followed Sasuke and Motoko back. It was only Ashitaka and San now.

"What happens now?" Ashitaka questioned to the wind. Then the breeze blew closer to Ashitaka and whispered to him.

"What happens now harmony; keep the man and beast in balance, and no more hate will turn the world impure. Good luck, and take care Ashitaka." Ashitaka sighed a little and then looked up.

"Thank you." San was still hypnotized by his beautiful eyes; she just couldn't stop staring at them. Ashitaka then turned to her, but she still stared into the deep. He smiled, knowing what she thinks of him now, she grew infatuated with him.

"Are you ok?" Ashitaka asked.

"Yes I am." Ashitaka then began to walk over to her; her heart began to pump faster, sweat dampened her skin a little, and rosy blossoms bloomed in her cheeks gently as well. Ashitaka still smiled with every step towards her, he then stopped when they were \only a couple o inches away from their lips.

"Show me a kiss." San quite firmly commanded.

"You want me to kiss you?" Ashitaka blossomed as well.

"It's what humans do when they're in love don't they?"

"Yes." He chuckled to himself. He then touched San's cheek and rubbed below her left eye. "You have to close your eyes." So she did, and then, Ashitaka brought himself closer to San's lips, and touched them with his own. The kiss was intense; San felt the warmth from his mouth take over her immense internal heat, she never felt this blissful since ever. Ashitaka then caressed her waist when he brought them closer to him. San didn't mind though; she loved Ashitaka after all. When their kiss broke off, she gently whispered to him.

"I love you Ashitaka." He smiled when she uttered, and pecked her again.

"I love you San." Their kisses became more passionate with every breath. But then, when the purple sky turned indigo, shooting stars began to scorch the sky, with their trails of multi-colored powder paint the heavens in bliss. The two lovers looked at the beautiful scenery and stared into the fair abyss. Motoko and Sasuke came back and looked at the landscape.

"It's so beautiful." Motoko gasped, and was then embraced by Sasuke.

"Is this a sign?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yes." Ashitaka answered.

"What does it mean?" San ventured as she grasped hold of both of his hands.

"Rebirth." Ashitaka replied on that as well, and brought San's body closer to his. Then, the four warrior couldn't help but watch, the wonderful mime of shooting stars scorch the sky with vivid colors, as they all knew, that this was the rebirth, of something new.


End file.
